Auto-translated
I don't know about a complete walkthrough, but there are hints from the author (they should be included with the map file): http://math.bme.hu/~csarmasz/heroes3/Vengeance%20is%20mine.txt
Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.
Marmot
Auto-translated
"Well, that's a twist!" Strangely enough, I haven't encountered this file before, but I'll include it in the map archive now. Thank you!
Auto-translated
I just checked: in the AB version included in my collection, everything is fine in the specified location, there are no extra obstacles.
Xaart, what about the King's Undead Cloak in "Legions of Monsters"? Did it work for you? Or are parts missing? You can't get far with skeletons; you need a very strong army to break through the antimagic garrisons.
In response to my question about the English version of "Seven Dark Souls," Michael replied that it is 3/4 complete and will even have more story text than the Polish original. We'll see...
No, I haven't collected everything yet; I don't have the Dead Man's Boots. Lord Haart learned the portal to the Inferno city of Miridorum, but the game is being played by the necromancer Moandor.
UPD
I removed the Turquoise and Orange, took the Pandora's Box, visited the red tent, and captured all the nearby cities. I still haven't found the boots; I'm continuing with the angel alliance, level 60. It's the 21st month of the game. There's a garrison on the way with an amazing number of Azure Dragons, 10,000 in each stack (going there with skeletons is suicide), or I need to find the Symbol of Knowledge for the Guardian; I don't know where to look.
Auto-translated
"Well, that's a twist!" Strangely enough, I haven't encountered this file before, but I'll include it in the map archive now. Thank you!
Marmot
Auto-translated
No, I've only seen a few brief reviews (including here) and videos on YouTube.
http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=1449&game=3
Here, L.C. stopped playing it when he couldn't figure out where to go, even with the map open:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wUH72JuEsA
And here's a video from another author:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sscdWunDoJY&index=17&list=PLroKUNAWvlWOPrOa5BsSS1f9JGMGFacG6
http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=1449&game=3
Here, L.C. stopped playing it when he couldn't figure out where to go, even with the map open:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wUH72JuEsA
And here's a video from another author:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sscdWunDoJY&index=17&list=PLroKUNAWvlWOPrOa5BsSS1f9JGMGFacG6
Auto-translated
Hmm, why does the screen freeze in the dungeon with dragons and the brown tent on this map? It stops freezing if I exit.
Marmot
Auto-translated
I didn't quite understand. Could you provide a save file and a screenshot?
Marlo_Stanfield
Auto-translated
Campaign Name: Risen from Hell
Author: Maxuta-Phoenix
Download: from this message
I don't like leaving things half-finished, so I gathered my strength and replayed it from the very beginning. While many gameplay moments weren't to my liking, I must note that the author has an original style. And if you take into account the time the campaign was created (the file is dated 15.01.2002!), one can be greatly surprised by the author's ingenuity and a level of difficulty comparable to what many other authors would only start implementing in their maps 10 years later.
The campaign consists of 7 missions. The main character is same Necromancer Karasuchka, who was executed and buried near a crematorium. Over time, she clawed her way out of the grave and decided to take revenge on her husband Lord Gena, as well as his buddies and new wife.
Key difficulties you will face during the walkthrough: the non-obvious nature of Karasuchka's secondary skill same development and the choice of two generals accompanying her in all missions. In my opinion, the optimal skill choice is: Necromancy, Wisdom, Logistics, Pathfinding, Earth Magic, Intelligence, Attack, and Eagle Eye. For accompaniment, I took Galtran (Necromancy, Defense, Logistics, Pathfinding, Wisdom, Attack, Intelligence, Earth) and Tant (Necromancy, Mysticism, Logistics, Pathfinding, Wisdom, own Literacy, Intelligence, Earth). Galtran is useful due to the "Shield" spell and starting skeleton army; Tant — because of "Raise Dead". In theory, you could try making Galtran the main hero, as skeletons are a far more formidable force under him than under Karasuchka (Tamika by passport), but then Karasuchka would have to be hidden in subsequent missions, which could lead to additional problems.
Gameplay across all missions is largely similar and organized on the "spiders in a jar" principle. Small map sizes (except for the first), no access to AI castles either at all or until the end of the scenario, AI heroes are not permanently destroyed and are constantly rebought. The key to success under these conditions: thorough preliminary scouting of missions, optimal generation of key objects, and aggressive play.
Mission 1
I took vampires as a bonus. Regarding starting generation: the key point is to generate "Armageddon" in the guild of the only Dungeon available to us on the map. And ensure that "Anti-Magic" is on the map. This combination is key to completing the second scenario. It is also useful to catch "Berserk" in one of the castles' guilds, but this is optional. There is also a university near our Necropolis: it's desirable for useful skills to drop there.
We gather the Power of the Father of Dragons to deliver it to headquarters. The components are held by the strongest AI heroes located behind red gates. The red tent is located behind our starting castle, so the AI must not be allowed near it. Karasuchka is helpless at first, starting with stats 0-0-1-1, but she has Shackles of War. Initial goals: build vampires up to at least a Citadel in the first week, then a Capitol, and then complete the quest for resources for +10 Attack. The quest must be completed before any AI hero does. The key stack in this mission is Vampire Lords; other troops are secondary—it's desirable to build them, but there's no point buying them until the very late stages of the game when you need to level up one of the accompanying heroes at a sacrificial altar. Among non-obvious points: 4 heroes available in the tavern arrive with artifacts. One has a Necro-fur coat, three others have elements of the Mage Ring, so you'll need to buy them as soon as possible.
After completing the +10 Attack quest, our next goal is taking the Dragon Utopia and obtaining good artifacts (in both my attempts, the Statue of the Legion dropped). The problem is that 10 Azure Dragons guard the utopia, and their number increases over time. They are on specific terrain, so such a guard can be broken if you have about 90 Vampire Lords and combat stats for Karasuchka around 13-5. We take the Statue of the Legion to the Necropolis; along with it, I received the Sentry's Shield, so I could now boldly fight wandering AI heroes whom I had to avoid before (Veil of Darkness helps).
During my first run, the greatest danger was a Barbarian with Logistics and Pathfinding who fished boots and gloves from wagons and snatched Confluxes from another AI (all AIs in this mission are enemies), consequently filling his army with Behemoths, Cyclops, Thunderbirds, Phoenixes, Psychos, etc. During the second run, there was no such same brutality, but very early on a hero with Dungeon troops crawled out of the ground, whom I had to avoid almost at the entrance to our headquarters.
I also note the strange passivity of the AI from the Conflux, who didn't emerge from their castles for several months in both my attempts, which greatly eased my life. The reasons for this remain unclear to me. The same happened with Dungeon heroes after the first defeat we dealt to their main wandering hero.
After taking the utopia and capturing the underground Dungeon, we set course for the key mission: collecting the components of the Power of the Father of Dragons. The sequence was as follows: swamp hero – Conflux – Barbarians – Tower – Rampart – Inferno – Dungeon. The strongest hero guarding a piece of the power set is Mutare Drake with 40 Black Dragons, Attack and Defense in secondary skills, and "Chain Lightning" at his disposal. In the first attempt, I broke him with 150 Vampire Lords, and it was difficult; in the second attempt, I hit later but with the Statue of the Legion taken earlier. Therefore, I gathered 300 vampires, and the battle was no problem. "Berserk" helped in battles with Kilgor and Xeron. A minor oversight by the author appeared in that Adrien and Moneru were given a set of spells but forgot to be given a book.
At a certain stage during various battles, a decent number of skeletons accumulated, so they could be given to a secondary hero patrolling the vicinity of the starting castle, while Karasuchka with vampires went on a campaign across the map. After collecting the Power of the Father of Dragons comes the most boring phase: we visit all possible stat boosters with three main heroes, learn missing magic and secondary skills, complete the +10 Defense quest with Karasuchka, and level up three heroes to the maximum limit for this mission (one hero via an experience quest, the second via a sacrificial altar near the castle). We complete the mission. In the rumors, the author wrote that some artifacts should carry over to the next mission, but this is not the case.
Completion time: 6.2.4.
Mission 2
Bonus – unicorns. Generate "Explosion" either in Rampart or Conflux. Also ensure we have "Force Field" and "Haste".
The goal of the mission is to defeat the swamp-dwellers. Karasuchka must not be lost. The map is tight and extremely high-contact. First impression — as if caught in crossfire. AI heroes push from all sides; stronger ones have an impressive amount of mana and "Summon Elementals," weaker ones have "Dimension Door". Three underground enemy castles are inaccessible until the very end of the game due to insurmountable ambushes. The only way to capture them is to remove the question-keeper for the Cursed Shield, Dead Man's Boots, and Angel Feather Arrows. We take the first two artifacts in the first week (that same "Anti-Magic" on flies + "Armageddon" helps), while the last one is guarded by 200 Gold Dragons in a single stack.
The key to success in completion is the rapid seizure of surface castles from AIs around the perimeter. Karasuchka moves with skeletons, other heroes are on flies. On the fifth day, I took the upper right swamp from an AI. Closer to the third week, both lower AI swamps. The working tactic is to knock out AIs using the "Anti-Magic" + "Armageddon" combo and then retreating. Most AIs prefer summoning elementals. If you kill all troops except summoned ones with Armageddon and retreat, the AI hero also disappears. It's only important to ensure Karasuchka doesn't encounter a "tough nut," as she cannot retreat. Also, the water path to the upper right swamp must be blocked by two boats. Simultaneously, we complete quests for bonuses to Attack and Knowledge. All stat quests are always completed by one hero.
When the surface territory is under control, we place one hero in the central swamp area and start building it up slowly. Almost all enemy heroes from this point will squeeze in this direction through a two-way monolith, and only a few will jump through "Dimension Door" elsewhere. Meanwhile, we take the Cloak of Speed from pegasi and build the fifth guild in one of the castles to get "Explosion". Then I performed two tricks on the guards of the Angel Feather Arrows. We attack with Tant using two upgraded dragonflies against 200 Gold Dragons. One is immediately killed by dragons; the second we hide behind a force field and then haste. Then the dragonfly stays behind the force field, while Tant hits the dragons with "Explosion". Two tricks over two days resulted in minus one hundred dragons. Karasuchka finishes off the remaining hundred with over a thousand skeletons. We take the arrows and turn in the quest that opens the road to the remaining AI castles. We destroy two flags and block one flag by placing a hero in a two-way monolith on the AI's side. Karasuchka and generals visit all Fortresses to increase Defense and start preparing for the tedious +Defense quest. After all heroes have visited existing swamps, we drive the remaining AI into another castle and visit the last swamp. We complete the remaining stat quest and finish off the enemy.
Completion time: 4.4.4.
Mission 3
Starting bonus is definitely a municipality. At start, it's preferable to generate the Legion torso in a wagon near the starting castle and Spirit of Despair in the black market; ideally, Rider's Gloves as well (not my case).
Extremely tense mission. This is where the choice of Tant as accompaniment and Eagle Eye on Karasuchka will fully prove themselves. The goal is to capture the Dungeon where Mutare is held. We must not allow the AI to capture headquarters.
We start the mission without magic, without a tavern, and without the ability to build even 1000 gold in the castle, so the starting bonus choice is obvious. Tant teaches Karasuchka and Galtran "Raise Dead"; on the first day, Galtran breaks through a chain of barbarian monsters, hits Azure Dragons, and clears the Cyclops warehouse; Karasuchka sets out with skeletons on a campaign around the perimeter. Two other heroes stay home. Karasuchka's first task is to find and eliminate Boragus and Kilgor for the first time. For breaking them, you get artifacts that are later exchanged for Shackles of War — a key artifact for this nauseating type of gameplay. During this time, Galtran sitting in the castle repelled arrogant enemy guests three times. Barbarians have many external dwellings with monsters, so the game in this mission should not be stretched out too long. In the first attempt, the absence of Tant and Eagle Eye on Karasuchka resulted in having to build Mage Guild 3 for "Raise Dead" and conducting a series of initial battles with Nimbus to relearn magic, but he was very weak in stats. This led to noticeable delays in tempo. Early battles with AIs here are difficult due to the absence of Shackles of War; later ones are difficult due to the rapid army buildup by enemies. The main danger comes from three heroes: Gundula, Boragus, and Kilgor. All have high stats, and Kilgor has a very nasty special ability on top.
A key secondary quest that must be completed is turning in a bunch of artifacts for +20 Attack. These artifacts will have to be beaten out of calmly standing heroes in different corners of the map with impressive armies but low stats. Also, you must ensure a catastrophe doesn't happen: under certain circumstances, active AI heroes take armies from calmly standing allies (!). If this happens, you need to roll back and knock enemies off their intended routes. In my walkthrough, this happened only once, but the possibility exists.
All standing heroes can be broken if you have about 80 Vampire Lords, in some cases supported by a few Ghost Dragons and a stack of skeletons. Special difficulties with Oris (all magic at expert, casts "Berserk" on 400 Orcs) and Crag (100 Ancient Behemoths with morale +3; here the Spirit of Despair helps). One hero is again without a book; he can be beaten by fifty vampires. Having collected all necessary artifacts, we return home, complete the +20 Attack quest, put all vampires on headquarters guard, and Karasuchka goes to hit Mutare with only skeletons; by this time, "Anti-Magic" must be relearned from Barbarians. As usual, don't forget to visit all stat boosters on the map (mandatory for Karasuchka, highly desirable for others).
Mutare has high stats and powerful attack magic. At the same time, he doesn't emerge from the castle until the walls are broken. Every round we cast "Anti-Magic" on skeletons; Mutare casts "Dispel". We wait for the catapult to break the wall, then all enemy troops attack, but skeletons destroy them all without visible problems. We help with "Shield", "Counterstrike", "Teleport", and "Raise Dead". Mutare casts "Sacrifice", returning Minotaurs, but it's not enough for long. Victory.
P.S. Had I lingered one extra day, Boragus would have captured headquarters. Even vampires at the base wouldn't have saved me.
Completion time: 3.3.1.
Mission 4
My first walkthrough ended on this mission. We start again completely without magic. Starting bonus with Tant present is either "Resurrection" or "Chain Lightning". I chose "Resurrection"; it will be needed in the fifth and seventh missions. Although it could have been relearned, it's easier to relearn "Chain Lightning". This was my guiding principle, although due to the absence of Chain Lightning, the first battle with Blue was extremely difficult. A key point during generation is artifacts in the underground Dragon Utopia. Titan Armor is mandatory and something from the Angel Alliance set as a package (in my case, it was a shield and necklace). The original plan was to generate Shackles of War either in black markets or utopia. But after 60 generation attempts, I failed to succeed. Yet the artifact is permitted. Either I was unlucky, or shackles don't generate in these objects (however, they did generate toward the end of the walkthrough in an artifact trader in the Dungeon, but they were no longer needed at that stage).
In this mission, we need to fight Knights from Castle led by Father. All castles on the surface map are without taverns and available for capture, which is surprising, but the author remains true to himself here. Underground there is a blue Dungeon with a tavern. As soon as we kill or force any Blue to retreat, he theoretically has the opportunity to immediately return via a one-way monolith. And the author placed plenty of exits from this one-way monolith in different corners of the map. Therefore, I had to meticulously reload so that AIs came out exactly where we needed them. There are Mage Guilds in castles, but they have no magic and are only useful for restoring mana. Spells will again have to be relearned from AIs. There is one castle village which initially only we will have access to. That's where the spells will be, as well as in the underground Dungeon. It's very desirable that good spells generate there: for example, "Clone", "Force Field".
At first, the author plays a game with us called "reach the castle in seven days". A question-keeper is set on an island, requiring one to reach him and turn in resources no later than day 4. Karasuchka takes a Ghost Dragon and immediately heads for the question-keeper, visiting a magic source on the way; Tant follows her with skeletons, capturing all mines with Troglodytes, breaking Archmages, and taking resources. Meanwhile, neither of these heroes can visit the Library of Enlightenment or the blue tent. Only Galtran will do this at first. Yes, if your heroes are without Logistics (just in case), the mission becomes impossible because of it.
On the fifth day, Karasuchka takes a scroll to summon a boat and boards the ship; enemy Sylvia lands on the shipyard side. On the sixth, Tant takes the scroll from Karasuchka, Karasuchka lands on the other shore with one dragon, and Tant summons the same boat and boards it with all skeletons. By this time, Galtran runs up from below and takes a position to block Sylvia for the next few weeks of the game. On the seventh day, Tant lands near Karasuchka and gives her almost all skeletons, keeping about ten for himself. Karasuchka moves toward the central Blue castle, captures it, and retreats left. During the turn transition, the most difficult battle on this map occurred: Father attacked. The goal in this fight: do not lose skeletons and relearn "Chain Lightning" and "Meteor Shower". We have about 320 skeletons; Father has about 25 Griffins, 20 Crossbowmen, 40 Pikemen, 4 Swordsmen (all creatures ungraded) and a Ballista. Father has cosmic stats; he wipes out most of the skeletons with one Chain Lightning, and with a broken arrow from the ballista, he shaves off another fifty. If you keep skeletons in one stack, he only casts "Meteor Shower", "Lightning Bolt", and "Ice Bolt", but we absolutely need specifically Chain Lightning from him in the first round. For this, separate single units from the main skeleton stack. Also immediately take out the ballista (archer + dragon). Then every turn we raise skeletons, while the AI hits with strike magic, surrounding crossbowmen with other troops. The problem is that crossbowmen only have 12 shots; after they run out, all troops attack. When Father feels it's time to die, he wipes half the skeletons with magic and retreats. Through countless restarts, I managed to make Father retreat when I had restored almost all skeletons and the dragon. I didn't even understand exactly how it happened.
In this same turn transition, a second AI hero enters the castle we just captured. Plus, he previously cleared artifacts from the black market on the way (useful things were Rider's Gloves, various stat artifacts, and starting Dead Man's Boots). Sitting in the castle, he cannot retreat, and we already have relearned Chain Lightning and the first move thanks to the dragon. Then Tant takes the dragon, Karasuchka with only skeletons sets out on a long journey toward the underground utopia, and Tant takes the castle village, collects gold, and breaks the conservatory on water. Karasuchka returns with Titan Armor and other stat artifacts and finishes off the two remaining Blues.
A very strange moment is that Blue sent no one through the one-way monoliths for almost two months (!), although I thought he would push relentlessly. This allowed me to take control of all possible castles and quietly start gathering Archdevils, Horses, and Griffins into an army with Tant. Blue emerged with an army from the Dungeon only when he was sure he could beat me, but that wasn't the case.
To finish the mission by defeating Blue, we also need to deal with Sylvia to remove the passage guard, and this is where I had to rack my brain. Sylvia is locked by Galtran at the other end of the map on the approach to the starting island from which one can sail out but not return (boarding the boat is done via a lighthouse). There are several ways to solve this:
1) generate Boots of Levitation in the Dragon Utopia. I had such generations, but then I would have had to play without stat artifacts. I discarded this option;
2) gather an army sufficient for Galtran to break Sylvia, as troops can be passed to him across water and he can be taught magic. But Sylvia has significantly higher stats, 1400 Ice Elementals, and she hits with "Explosion", so it would take a very long time to gather troops for a secondary hero to conduct this battle;
3) let Sylvia onto the island, summon a boat for her at the lighthouse, and wait until she boards it, deceptively taking her boat with Galtran. This is the option I settled on.
After dealing with Sylvia, we could finally go for the enemy Dungeon; for this, we give Karasuchka some fast insignificant troops (I took Griffins). Tant and Galtran remain patrolling the territory. At a certain point, the Blue AI went crazy and started pushing through monoliths relentlessly almost without an army (I thought he would act like that from the start). When Karasuchka is on the approach to the Dungeon, we give one castle back to Blue. This way we avoid completing the mission without learning magic, and also finally tame Blue since he'll be left without a tavern. We could have ended here, but I decided at the end to visit the Library of Enlightenment on the starting island with Karasuchka and Tant, which was missed at the beginning. For this, it took about twelve months to accumulate troops and generate artifacts from the Cursed Armor set in the Dungeon artifact trader to break an anti-magic garrison protected by 5000 own same Fairy Dragons.
Completion time: 15.4.3.
Mission 5
The mission that was easiest. All due to very lucky generation: Medal of Vulnerability, Teapot, Necklace of Divine Grace, and Titan Armor (!) dropped in the Dragon Utopia. Also, once again, the AI's behavior was strange: it had three heroes with combat stats around 70 at its disposal, but it never bought them, instead running around as losers with parameters around 20.
Starting bonus: skeletons. This time we give a hard time to elves and dwarves. The map is full of opportunities to accumulate money: many gold mines at the exit from the same Dungeon, and behind the external tavern on the second day, one can dig up a Grail and place it in the Necropolis. Funny thing is that there are no obelisks on the map, and I spotted the Grail by chance in the editor; it's hard to notice even then. Yes, finally playing with taverns and Shackles of War again. Also, we have one Archdevil as a companion, who will be very useful due to high speed.
We need to capture all AI castles. Three castles can be taken in the first month of the game by wiping out hundreds of Gold Dragons and Grand Elves in garrisons. To get to other castles, resources must be gathered. There is a box giving a small amount of resources guarded by 1000 Black Dragons. I took it very early with nearly three thousand skeletons. In black markets, I got the Necro-fur coat and boots, so Necromancy was boosted to 85%. Overall, not much more to add: gathered skeletons and saved money, then exchanged money and skeletons for resources. Also completed a side quest for stats for the Statue of the Legion. No army other than skeletons was needed here.
Completion time: 4.1.3.
Mission 6
The most original and most agonizing mission. You need to hold out for three months in the area of a outpost through which only enemies can pass. All this time, our allied hero Devil runs through winding underground corridors. In the end, he frees the Dream Demon, who after a couple of days reaches us by jumps and destroys the enemies.
Starting bonus is again skeletons. In terms of generation, only matching spells in enemy castles is important (we will learn missing third-fourth level magic).
There are only two artifacts on the map: Boots of Counteraction and Legion Legs. The AIs will bring them to us, but only the first one will be significantly useful. No Shackles of War.
Key task at start: Karasuchka must break the Pandora's Box guard, specifically 1000 Fanatics, to turn them into skeletons. Then we sit in the castle and prepare to endure enemy raids for a long and tedious time. We are opposed by three flags: Blue has one castle, Green and Orange have two each. All castles from the start are fully built up to the Grail. The blue tent is on Blue's territory, so he arrives by the end of the first week and takes our castle. We beat him and take the Boots of Counteraction.
For the next few weeks, nothing much happened, and then came the most difficult moment for me in the entire campaign: I had to repel the first waves of all flags with troops gathered on one hero. And not just repel them, but ideally remain positive in skeleton count. Everyone is received at the castle defense. The battle with Ryland seemed absolutely hopeless at first: his combat stats are 85-78 compared to our 72-63. Army ratio is also not in our favor: one and a half thousand Skeleton Warriors against a dozen Gold Dragons, forty Unicorns, over a hundred Dendroids and Pegasi, over two hundred Elves, several hundred Dwarves. It was very difficult just not to die, but even when I managed to push through, "Explosion" would hit the skeletons at the end, and Ryland would retreat. With great difficulty over a couple of hours, I managed to win, ending positive in skeletons. Things went slightly easier with other heroes, but there were also battles taking about an hour of attempts. After this, we lure enemies from behind the outpost so they don't accumulate troops (we leave Karasuchka on single units of skeletons and put the main stack in the castle garrison). The plan was to lure out AI bosses earlier in the same way, but they either didn't come out or attacked on the same day. At the same time, it's important not to overdo it: sometimes very weak heroes run out, attack our castle, cast "Explosion", and flee. AIs should attack with forces such that they feel they have a chance of victory. In this mode, we wait for the Dream Demon, conducting five identical battles with the same heroes, and these battles are always tedious due to the absence of shackles. We buy skeletons, convert walking dead and spirits into skeletons, although vampires could also be used (I bought them, but they weren't needed). We upgrade skeletons. Tant and Galtran are hidden.
Dream Demon was near the outpost by 4.1.1., as scheduled. He has Logistics with boots and gloves and 4 jumps per turn, so he wipes out AIs very quickly. First, we dismiss our heroes, then the next day we rebuy them in ally cities. One city had to be captured quickly myself to learn "Berserk" in time.
Completion time: 4.1.7.
Mission 7
Starting bonus: I took Titan Armor, but a Vial of Life Force would also look normal.
The author decided to outdo himself, offering the player to engage in fussing in the spirit of previous missions, but this time brutally stretching it out in time. The goal of the mission: liquidate a shanty-town of various opportunists, including Karasuchka's husband and his new wife. To do this, you'll have to break an anti-magic garrison guarded by 7000 Gold Dragons to visit the keymaster's tents. As I understand it, the author intended for the player to slowly and nauseatingly accumulate skeletons while patrolling the area around the starting castle, which must not be given to enemies (defeat condition is loss of city), waiting for a number of skeletons or vampires necessary to break that same garrison. Moreover, vampires are built in town by event far from immediately. Then at some point, a Grail is also built in the Necropolis. You can also generate parts of the Statue of the Legion in black markets and regularly convert growth from several available castles into skeletons in the converter. In short, you couldn't think of anything worse.
But at the same time, the author teases us by piling up 10,000 wood each in one spot on the map within 12 cells, guarded by 4,000 + 4,000 Azure Dragons + 4,000 Wizards. Having done a preliminary estimate, I decided that if I turned all this guard into skeletons, it should be enough to break the garrison. The rest is easy: with a cheap army, defeat 8,000 Azure and 4,000 Wizards 12 times. As harsh as this looks at first glance, in perspective this option seemed easier to implement than spending many months fussing with AIs, fighting the same heroes a hundred times.
Operation "Logging" was carried out with the following troop composition: three single units of Archdevils (given at start together with Shackles of War), two single units of cavalrymen (there were three at first, but one horse is extra in this construction), a combat stack of upgraded Crossbowmen (about a hundred), a ballista, and an ammunition wagon. Of artifacts, I took the Medal of Vulnerability from utopia (the author set up an ambush with 350 Azure Dragons in one stack before it, which I broke on 1.2.4.), and from the black market a Necro-fur coat and Necklace of Swiftness; among spells, I previously relearned "Blindness" from a loser (for the first time Blindness appears for AIs, and consequently for us, specifically in the final mission), also used "Berserk", "Resurrection", "Slow", "Haste", and "Sorrow". As a result of turning Azure Dragons and Wizards into skeletons, by the beginning of the second game month, 70+ thousand skeletons had accumulated. I gave almost the first batch to Galtran for Necropolis guard; with others, I broke the garrison after collecting Cursed Armor. The rest is just fluff. For one and a half game months, I ran across the map clearing enemy castles and heroes. A suicide squad greatly helped in holding captured positions. With money from selling wood, I bought all heroes available in the tavern (they are level 36 here) and taught them magic levels 1-4 with Tant. Subsequently, the suicide squad led by Tant could protect castles from enemy heroes of almost any strength; only first speed is needed. "Armageddon", relearned in mission 6, became especially useful for such purposes.
Completion time: 3.2.5.
Total completion time: 993 days (of which about 400 were spent preparing to visit the Library of Enlightenment in mission 4), but in any case, the game was not played for time.
Final Impressions
After full completion with proper hero development, I changed my opinion of the campaign for the better, but overall I disliked it more than liked it. There were moments when the game was engrossing, but there were also enough boring gaps and outright irritating ones. Of the latter, this especially concerns the need to fight constantly rebought AI heroes without the possibility of immediately eliminating them. The main quality required from a player for successful completion is endurance.
Also, I'll note once more that the author's style is quite original, but it's good that few authors used the principles by which Maxuta-Phoenix builds his missions. Even Chinese developers don't subject the player to such sadomasochism, where you need to fight enemy heroes of different flags dozens of times (and several times with the same ones), while access to their castles is closed to us. In my experience, only the Limes Inferior map is structured this way. But if doing this in one mission can be somewhat engaging, then throughout all seven missions — no thanks.
On the other hand, if so many words were found to describe the campaign, it means the thing is still worthwhile
Attached are screenshots of missions 3 and 7. In the third, I showed "eagle eye" in action (battles with Barbarians); in the seventh – retraining "blindness," the process of un-necromancing from azure dragons, the battle for the garrison, Karasuchka before the finale, and the final result itself.
Author: Maxuta-Phoenix
Download: from this message
I don't like leaving things half-finished, so I gathered my strength and replayed it from the very beginning. While many gameplay moments weren't to my liking, I must note that the author has an original style. And if you take into account the time the campaign was created (the file is dated 15.01.2002!), one can be greatly surprised by the author's ingenuity and a level of difficulty comparable to what many other authors would only start implementing in their maps 10 years later.
The campaign consists of 7 missions. The main character is same Necromancer Karasuchka, who was executed and buried near a crematorium. Over time, she clawed her way out of the grave and decided to take revenge on her husband Lord Gena, as well as his buddies and new wife.
Key difficulties you will face during the walkthrough: the non-obvious nature of Karasuchka's secondary skill same development and the choice of two generals accompanying her in all missions. In my opinion, the optimal skill choice is: Necromancy, Wisdom, Logistics, Pathfinding, Earth Magic, Intelligence, Attack, and Eagle Eye. For accompaniment, I took Galtran (Necromancy, Defense, Logistics, Pathfinding, Wisdom, Attack, Intelligence, Earth) and Tant (Necromancy, Mysticism, Logistics, Pathfinding, Wisdom, own Literacy, Intelligence, Earth). Galtran is useful due to the "Shield" spell and starting skeleton army; Tant — because of "Raise Dead". In theory, you could try making Galtran the main hero, as skeletons are a far more formidable force under him than under Karasuchka (Tamika by passport), but then Karasuchka would have to be hidden in subsequent missions, which could lead to additional problems.
Gameplay across all missions is largely similar and organized on the "spiders in a jar" principle. Small map sizes (except for the first), no access to AI castles either at all or until the end of the scenario, AI heroes are not permanently destroyed and are constantly rebought. The key to success under these conditions: thorough preliminary scouting of missions, optimal generation of key objects, and aggressive play.
Mission 1
I took vampires as a bonus. Regarding starting generation: the key point is to generate "Armageddon" in the guild of the only Dungeon available to us on the map. And ensure that "Anti-Magic" is on the map. This combination is key to completing the second scenario. It is also useful to catch "Berserk" in one of the castles' guilds, but this is optional. There is also a university near our Necropolis: it's desirable for useful skills to drop there.
We gather the Power of the Father of Dragons to deliver it to headquarters. The components are held by the strongest AI heroes located behind red gates. The red tent is located behind our starting castle, so the AI must not be allowed near it. Karasuchka is helpless at first, starting with stats 0-0-1-1, but she has Shackles of War. Initial goals: build vampires up to at least a Citadel in the first week, then a Capitol, and then complete the quest for resources for +10 Attack. The quest must be completed before any AI hero does. The key stack in this mission is Vampire Lords; other troops are secondary—it's desirable to build them, but there's no point buying them until the very late stages of the game when you need to level up one of the accompanying heroes at a sacrificial altar. Among non-obvious points: 4 heroes available in the tavern arrive with artifacts. One has a Necro-fur coat, three others have elements of the Mage Ring, so you'll need to buy them as soon as possible.
After completing the +10 Attack quest, our next goal is taking the Dragon Utopia and obtaining good artifacts (in both my attempts, the Statue of the Legion dropped). The problem is that 10 Azure Dragons guard the utopia, and their number increases over time. They are on specific terrain, so such a guard can be broken if you have about 90 Vampire Lords and combat stats for Karasuchka around 13-5. We take the Statue of the Legion to the Necropolis; along with it, I received the Sentry's Shield, so I could now boldly fight wandering AI heroes whom I had to avoid before (Veil of Darkness helps).
During my first run, the greatest danger was a Barbarian with Logistics and Pathfinding who fished boots and gloves from wagons and snatched Confluxes from another AI (all AIs in this mission are enemies), consequently filling his army with Behemoths, Cyclops, Thunderbirds, Phoenixes, Psychos, etc. During the second run, there was no such same brutality, but very early on a hero with Dungeon troops crawled out of the ground, whom I had to avoid almost at the entrance to our headquarters.
I also note the strange passivity of the AI from the Conflux, who didn't emerge from their castles for several months in both my attempts, which greatly eased my life. The reasons for this remain unclear to me. The same happened with Dungeon heroes after the first defeat we dealt to their main wandering hero.
After taking the utopia and capturing the underground Dungeon, we set course for the key mission: collecting the components of the Power of the Father of Dragons. The sequence was as follows: swamp hero – Conflux – Barbarians – Tower – Rampart – Inferno – Dungeon. The strongest hero guarding a piece of the power set is Mutare Drake with 40 Black Dragons, Attack and Defense in secondary skills, and "Chain Lightning" at his disposal. In the first attempt, I broke him with 150 Vampire Lords, and it was difficult; in the second attempt, I hit later but with the Statue of the Legion taken earlier. Therefore, I gathered 300 vampires, and the battle was no problem. "Berserk" helped in battles with Kilgor and Xeron. A minor oversight by the author appeared in that Adrien and Moneru were given a set of spells but forgot to be given a book.
At a certain stage during various battles, a decent number of skeletons accumulated, so they could be given to a secondary hero patrolling the vicinity of the starting castle, while Karasuchka with vampires went on a campaign across the map. After collecting the Power of the Father of Dragons comes the most boring phase: we visit all possible stat boosters with three main heroes, learn missing magic and secondary skills, complete the +10 Defense quest with Karasuchka, and level up three heroes to the maximum limit for this mission (one hero via an experience quest, the second via a sacrificial altar near the castle). We complete the mission. In the rumors, the author wrote that some artifacts should carry over to the next mission, but this is not the case.
Completion time: 6.2.4.
Mission 2
Bonus – unicorns. Generate "Explosion" either in Rampart or Conflux. Also ensure we have "Force Field" and "Haste".
The goal of the mission is to defeat the swamp-dwellers. Karasuchka must not be lost. The map is tight and extremely high-contact. First impression — as if caught in crossfire. AI heroes push from all sides; stronger ones have an impressive amount of mana and "Summon Elementals," weaker ones have "Dimension Door". Three underground enemy castles are inaccessible until the very end of the game due to insurmountable ambushes. The only way to capture them is to remove the question-keeper for the Cursed Shield, Dead Man's Boots, and Angel Feather Arrows. We take the first two artifacts in the first week (that same "Anti-Magic" on flies + "Armageddon" helps), while the last one is guarded by 200 Gold Dragons in a single stack.
The key to success in completion is the rapid seizure of surface castles from AIs around the perimeter. Karasuchka moves with skeletons, other heroes are on flies. On the fifth day, I took the upper right swamp from an AI. Closer to the third week, both lower AI swamps. The working tactic is to knock out AIs using the "Anti-Magic" + "Armageddon" combo and then retreating. Most AIs prefer summoning elementals. If you kill all troops except summoned ones with Armageddon and retreat, the AI hero also disappears. It's only important to ensure Karasuchka doesn't encounter a "tough nut," as she cannot retreat. Also, the water path to the upper right swamp must be blocked by two boats. Simultaneously, we complete quests for bonuses to Attack and Knowledge. All stat quests are always completed by one hero.
When the surface territory is under control, we place one hero in the central swamp area and start building it up slowly. Almost all enemy heroes from this point will squeeze in this direction through a two-way monolith, and only a few will jump through "Dimension Door" elsewhere. Meanwhile, we take the Cloak of Speed from pegasi and build the fifth guild in one of the castles to get "Explosion". Then I performed two tricks on the guards of the Angel Feather Arrows. We attack with Tant using two upgraded dragonflies against 200 Gold Dragons. One is immediately killed by dragons; the second we hide behind a force field and then haste. Then the dragonfly stays behind the force field, while Tant hits the dragons with "Explosion". Two tricks over two days resulted in minus one hundred dragons. Karasuchka finishes off the remaining hundred with over a thousand skeletons. We take the arrows and turn in the quest that opens the road to the remaining AI castles. We destroy two flags and block one flag by placing a hero in a two-way monolith on the AI's side. Karasuchka and generals visit all Fortresses to increase Defense and start preparing for the tedious +Defense quest. After all heroes have visited existing swamps, we drive the remaining AI into another castle and visit the last swamp. We complete the remaining stat quest and finish off the enemy.
Completion time: 4.4.4.
Mission 3
Starting bonus is definitely a municipality. At start, it's preferable to generate the Legion torso in a wagon near the starting castle and Spirit of Despair in the black market; ideally, Rider's Gloves as well (not my case).
Extremely tense mission. This is where the choice of Tant as accompaniment and Eagle Eye on Karasuchka will fully prove themselves. The goal is to capture the Dungeon where Mutare is held. We must not allow the AI to capture headquarters.
We start the mission without magic, without a tavern, and without the ability to build even 1000 gold in the castle, so the starting bonus choice is obvious. Tant teaches Karasuchka and Galtran "Raise Dead"; on the first day, Galtran breaks through a chain of barbarian monsters, hits Azure Dragons, and clears the Cyclops warehouse; Karasuchka sets out with skeletons on a campaign around the perimeter. Two other heroes stay home. Karasuchka's first task is to find and eliminate Boragus and Kilgor for the first time. For breaking them, you get artifacts that are later exchanged for Shackles of War — a key artifact for this nauseating type of gameplay. During this time, Galtran sitting in the castle repelled arrogant enemy guests three times. Barbarians have many external dwellings with monsters, so the game in this mission should not be stretched out too long. In the first attempt, the absence of Tant and Eagle Eye on Karasuchka resulted in having to build Mage Guild 3 for "Raise Dead" and conducting a series of initial battles with Nimbus to relearn magic, but he was very weak in stats. This led to noticeable delays in tempo. Early battles with AIs here are difficult due to the absence of Shackles of War; later ones are difficult due to the rapid army buildup by enemies. The main danger comes from three heroes: Gundula, Boragus, and Kilgor. All have high stats, and Kilgor has a very nasty special ability on top.
A key secondary quest that must be completed is turning in a bunch of artifacts for +20 Attack. These artifacts will have to be beaten out of calmly standing heroes in different corners of the map with impressive armies but low stats. Also, you must ensure a catastrophe doesn't happen: under certain circumstances, active AI heroes take armies from calmly standing allies (!). If this happens, you need to roll back and knock enemies off their intended routes. In my walkthrough, this happened only once, but the possibility exists.
All standing heroes can be broken if you have about 80 Vampire Lords, in some cases supported by a few Ghost Dragons and a stack of skeletons. Special difficulties with Oris (all magic at expert, casts "Berserk" on 400 Orcs) and Crag (100 Ancient Behemoths with morale +3; here the Spirit of Despair helps). One hero is again without a book; he can be beaten by fifty vampires. Having collected all necessary artifacts, we return home, complete the +20 Attack quest, put all vampires on headquarters guard, and Karasuchka goes to hit Mutare with only skeletons; by this time, "Anti-Magic" must be relearned from Barbarians. As usual, don't forget to visit all stat boosters on the map (mandatory for Karasuchka, highly desirable for others).
Mutare has high stats and powerful attack magic. At the same time, he doesn't emerge from the castle until the walls are broken. Every round we cast "Anti-Magic" on skeletons; Mutare casts "Dispel". We wait for the catapult to break the wall, then all enemy troops attack, but skeletons destroy them all without visible problems. We help with "Shield", "Counterstrike", "Teleport", and "Raise Dead". Mutare casts "Sacrifice", returning Minotaurs, but it's not enough for long. Victory.
P.S. Had I lingered one extra day, Boragus would have captured headquarters. Even vampires at the base wouldn't have saved me.
Completion time: 3.3.1.
Mission 4
My first walkthrough ended on this mission. We start again completely without magic. Starting bonus with Tant present is either "Resurrection" or "Chain Lightning". I chose "Resurrection"; it will be needed in the fifth and seventh missions. Although it could have been relearned, it's easier to relearn "Chain Lightning". This was my guiding principle, although due to the absence of Chain Lightning, the first battle with Blue was extremely difficult. A key point during generation is artifacts in the underground Dragon Utopia. Titan Armor is mandatory and something from the Angel Alliance set as a package (in my case, it was a shield and necklace). The original plan was to generate Shackles of War either in black markets or utopia. But after 60 generation attempts, I failed to succeed. Yet the artifact is permitted. Either I was unlucky, or shackles don't generate in these objects (however, they did generate toward the end of the walkthrough in an artifact trader in the Dungeon, but they were no longer needed at that stage).
In this mission, we need to fight Knights from Castle led by Father. All castles on the surface map are without taverns and available for capture, which is surprising, but the author remains true to himself here. Underground there is a blue Dungeon with a tavern. As soon as we kill or force any Blue to retreat, he theoretically has the opportunity to immediately return via a one-way monolith. And the author placed plenty of exits from this one-way monolith in different corners of the map. Therefore, I had to meticulously reload so that AIs came out exactly where we needed them. There are Mage Guilds in castles, but they have no magic and are only useful for restoring mana. Spells will again have to be relearned from AIs. There is one castle village which initially only we will have access to. That's where the spells will be, as well as in the underground Dungeon. It's very desirable that good spells generate there: for example, "Clone", "Force Field".
At first, the author plays a game with us called "reach the castle in seven days". A question-keeper is set on an island, requiring one to reach him and turn in resources no later than day 4. Karasuchka takes a Ghost Dragon and immediately heads for the question-keeper, visiting a magic source on the way; Tant follows her with skeletons, capturing all mines with Troglodytes, breaking Archmages, and taking resources. Meanwhile, neither of these heroes can visit the Library of Enlightenment or the blue tent. Only Galtran will do this at first. Yes, if your heroes are without Logistics (just in case), the mission becomes impossible because of it.
On the fifth day, Karasuchka takes a scroll to summon a boat and boards the ship; enemy Sylvia lands on the shipyard side. On the sixth, Tant takes the scroll from Karasuchka, Karasuchka lands on the other shore with one dragon, and Tant summons the same boat and boards it with all skeletons. By this time, Galtran runs up from below and takes a position to block Sylvia for the next few weeks of the game. On the seventh day, Tant lands near Karasuchka and gives her almost all skeletons, keeping about ten for himself. Karasuchka moves toward the central Blue castle, captures it, and retreats left. During the turn transition, the most difficult battle on this map occurred: Father attacked. The goal in this fight: do not lose skeletons and relearn "Chain Lightning" and "Meteor Shower". We have about 320 skeletons; Father has about 25 Griffins, 20 Crossbowmen, 40 Pikemen, 4 Swordsmen (all creatures ungraded) and a Ballista. Father has cosmic stats; he wipes out most of the skeletons with one Chain Lightning, and with a broken arrow from the ballista, he shaves off another fifty. If you keep skeletons in one stack, he only casts "Meteor Shower", "Lightning Bolt", and "Ice Bolt", but we absolutely need specifically Chain Lightning from him in the first round. For this, separate single units from the main skeleton stack. Also immediately take out the ballista (archer + dragon). Then every turn we raise skeletons, while the AI hits with strike magic, surrounding crossbowmen with other troops. The problem is that crossbowmen only have 12 shots; after they run out, all troops attack. When Father feels it's time to die, he wipes half the skeletons with magic and retreats. Through countless restarts, I managed to make Father retreat when I had restored almost all skeletons and the dragon. I didn't even understand exactly how it happened.
In this same turn transition, a second AI hero enters the castle we just captured. Plus, he previously cleared artifacts from the black market on the way (useful things were Rider's Gloves, various stat artifacts, and starting Dead Man's Boots). Sitting in the castle, he cannot retreat, and we already have relearned Chain Lightning and the first move thanks to the dragon. Then Tant takes the dragon, Karasuchka with only skeletons sets out on a long journey toward the underground utopia, and Tant takes the castle village, collects gold, and breaks the conservatory on water. Karasuchka returns with Titan Armor and other stat artifacts and finishes off the two remaining Blues.
A very strange moment is that Blue sent no one through the one-way monoliths for almost two months (!), although I thought he would push relentlessly. This allowed me to take control of all possible castles and quietly start gathering Archdevils, Horses, and Griffins into an army with Tant. Blue emerged with an army from the Dungeon only when he was sure he could beat me, but that wasn't the case.
To finish the mission by defeating Blue, we also need to deal with Sylvia to remove the passage guard, and this is where I had to rack my brain. Sylvia is locked by Galtran at the other end of the map on the approach to the starting island from which one can sail out but not return (boarding the boat is done via a lighthouse). There are several ways to solve this:
1) generate Boots of Levitation in the Dragon Utopia. I had such generations, but then I would have had to play without stat artifacts. I discarded this option;
2) gather an army sufficient for Galtran to break Sylvia, as troops can be passed to him across water and he can be taught magic. But Sylvia has significantly higher stats, 1400 Ice Elementals, and she hits with "Explosion", so it would take a very long time to gather troops for a secondary hero to conduct this battle;
3) let Sylvia onto the island, summon a boat for her at the lighthouse, and wait until she boards it, deceptively taking her boat with Galtran. This is the option I settled on.
After dealing with Sylvia, we could finally go for the enemy Dungeon; for this, we give Karasuchka some fast insignificant troops (I took Griffins). Tant and Galtran remain patrolling the territory. At a certain point, the Blue AI went crazy and started pushing through monoliths relentlessly almost without an army (I thought he would act like that from the start). When Karasuchka is on the approach to the Dungeon, we give one castle back to Blue. This way we avoid completing the mission without learning magic, and also finally tame Blue since he'll be left without a tavern. We could have ended here, but I decided at the end to visit the Library of Enlightenment on the starting island with Karasuchka and Tant, which was missed at the beginning. For this, it took about twelve months to accumulate troops and generate artifacts from the Cursed Armor set in the Dungeon artifact trader to break an anti-magic garrison protected by 5000 own same Fairy Dragons.
Completion time: 15.4.3.
Mission 5
The mission that was easiest. All due to very lucky generation: Medal of Vulnerability, Teapot, Necklace of Divine Grace, and Titan Armor (!) dropped in the Dragon Utopia. Also, once again, the AI's behavior was strange: it had three heroes with combat stats around 70 at its disposal, but it never bought them, instead running around as losers with parameters around 20.
Starting bonus: skeletons. This time we give a hard time to elves and dwarves. The map is full of opportunities to accumulate money: many gold mines at the exit from the same Dungeon, and behind the external tavern on the second day, one can dig up a Grail and place it in the Necropolis. Funny thing is that there are no obelisks on the map, and I spotted the Grail by chance in the editor; it's hard to notice even then. Yes, finally playing with taverns and Shackles of War again. Also, we have one Archdevil as a companion, who will be very useful due to high speed.
We need to capture all AI castles. Three castles can be taken in the first month of the game by wiping out hundreds of Gold Dragons and Grand Elves in garrisons. To get to other castles, resources must be gathered. There is a box giving a small amount of resources guarded by 1000 Black Dragons. I took it very early with nearly three thousand skeletons. In black markets, I got the Necro-fur coat and boots, so Necromancy was boosted to 85%. Overall, not much more to add: gathered skeletons and saved money, then exchanged money and skeletons for resources. Also completed a side quest for stats for the Statue of the Legion. No army other than skeletons was needed here.
Completion time: 4.1.3.
Mission 6
The most original and most agonizing mission. You need to hold out for three months in the area of a outpost through which only enemies can pass. All this time, our allied hero Devil runs through winding underground corridors. In the end, he frees the Dream Demon, who after a couple of days reaches us by jumps and destroys the enemies.
Starting bonus is again skeletons. In terms of generation, only matching spells in enemy castles is important (we will learn missing third-fourth level magic).
There are only two artifacts on the map: Boots of Counteraction and Legion Legs. The AIs will bring them to us, but only the first one will be significantly useful. No Shackles of War.
Key task at start: Karasuchka must break the Pandora's Box guard, specifically 1000 Fanatics, to turn them into skeletons. Then we sit in the castle and prepare to endure enemy raids for a long and tedious time. We are opposed by three flags: Blue has one castle, Green and Orange have two each. All castles from the start are fully built up to the Grail. The blue tent is on Blue's territory, so he arrives by the end of the first week and takes our castle. We beat him and take the Boots of Counteraction.
For the next few weeks, nothing much happened, and then came the most difficult moment for me in the entire campaign: I had to repel the first waves of all flags with troops gathered on one hero. And not just repel them, but ideally remain positive in skeleton count. Everyone is received at the castle defense. The battle with Ryland seemed absolutely hopeless at first: his combat stats are 85-78 compared to our 72-63. Army ratio is also not in our favor: one and a half thousand Skeleton Warriors against a dozen Gold Dragons, forty Unicorns, over a hundred Dendroids and Pegasi, over two hundred Elves, several hundred Dwarves. It was very difficult just not to die, but even when I managed to push through, "Explosion" would hit the skeletons at the end, and Ryland would retreat. With great difficulty over a couple of hours, I managed to win, ending positive in skeletons. Things went slightly easier with other heroes, but there were also battles taking about an hour of attempts. After this, we lure enemies from behind the outpost so they don't accumulate troops (we leave Karasuchka on single units of skeletons and put the main stack in the castle garrison). The plan was to lure out AI bosses earlier in the same way, but they either didn't come out or attacked on the same day. At the same time, it's important not to overdo it: sometimes very weak heroes run out, attack our castle, cast "Explosion", and flee. AIs should attack with forces such that they feel they have a chance of victory. In this mode, we wait for the Dream Demon, conducting five identical battles with the same heroes, and these battles are always tedious due to the absence of shackles. We buy skeletons, convert walking dead and spirits into skeletons, although vampires could also be used (I bought them, but they weren't needed). We upgrade skeletons. Tant and Galtran are hidden.
Dream Demon was near the outpost by 4.1.1., as scheduled. He has Logistics with boots and gloves and 4 jumps per turn, so he wipes out AIs very quickly. First, we dismiss our heroes, then the next day we rebuy them in ally cities. One city had to be captured quickly myself to learn "Berserk" in time.
Completion time: 4.1.7.
Mission 7
Starting bonus: I took Titan Armor, but a Vial of Life Force would also look normal.
The author decided to outdo himself, offering the player to engage in fussing in the spirit of previous missions, but this time brutally stretching it out in time. The goal of the mission: liquidate a shanty-town of various opportunists, including Karasuchka's husband and his new wife. To do this, you'll have to break an anti-magic garrison guarded by 7000 Gold Dragons to visit the keymaster's tents. As I understand it, the author intended for the player to slowly and nauseatingly accumulate skeletons while patrolling the area around the starting castle, which must not be given to enemies (defeat condition is loss of city), waiting for a number of skeletons or vampires necessary to break that same garrison. Moreover, vampires are built in town by event far from immediately. Then at some point, a Grail is also built in the Necropolis. You can also generate parts of the Statue of the Legion in black markets and regularly convert growth from several available castles into skeletons in the converter. In short, you couldn't think of anything worse.
But at the same time, the author teases us by piling up 10,000 wood each in one spot on the map within 12 cells, guarded by 4,000 + 4,000 Azure Dragons + 4,000 Wizards. Having done a preliminary estimate, I decided that if I turned all this guard into skeletons, it should be enough to break the garrison. The rest is easy: with a cheap army, defeat 8,000 Azure and 4,000 Wizards 12 times. As harsh as this looks at first glance, in perspective this option seemed easier to implement than spending many months fussing with AIs, fighting the same heroes a hundred times.
Operation "Logging" was carried out with the following troop composition: three single units of Archdevils (given at start together with Shackles of War), two single units of cavalrymen (there were three at first, but one horse is extra in this construction), a combat stack of upgraded Crossbowmen (about a hundred), a ballista, and an ammunition wagon. Of artifacts, I took the Medal of Vulnerability from utopia (the author set up an ambush with 350 Azure Dragons in one stack before it, which I broke on 1.2.4.), and from the black market a Necro-fur coat and Necklace of Swiftness; among spells, I previously relearned "Blindness" from a loser (for the first time Blindness appears for AIs, and consequently for us, specifically in the final mission), also used "Berserk", "Resurrection", "Slow", "Haste", and "Sorrow". As a result of turning Azure Dragons and Wizards into skeletons, by the beginning of the second game month, 70+ thousand skeletons had accumulated. I gave almost the first batch to Galtran for Necropolis guard; with others, I broke the garrison after collecting Cursed Armor. The rest is just fluff. For one and a half game months, I ran across the map clearing enemy castles and heroes. A suicide squad greatly helped in holding captured positions. With money from selling wood, I bought all heroes available in the tavern (they are level 36 here) and taught them magic levels 1-4 with Tant. Subsequently, the suicide squad led by Tant could protect castles from enemy heroes of almost any strength; only first speed is needed. "Armageddon", relearned in mission 6, became especially useful for such purposes.
Completion time: 3.2.5.
Total completion time: 993 days (of which about 400 were spent preparing to visit the Library of Enlightenment in mission 4), but in any case, the game was not played for time.
Final Impressions
After full completion with proper hero development, I changed my opinion of the campaign for the better, but overall I disliked it more than liked it. There were moments when the game was engrossing, but there were also enough boring gaps and outright irritating ones. Of the latter, this especially concerns the need to fight constantly rebought AI heroes without the possibility of immediately eliminating them. The main quality required from a player for successful completion is endurance.
Also, I'll note once more that the author's style is quite original, but it's good that few authors used the principles by which Maxuta-Phoenix builds his missions. Even Chinese developers don't subject the player to such sadomasochism, where you need to fight enemy heroes of different flags dozens of times (and several times with the same ones), while access to their castles is closed to us. In my experience, only the Limes Inferior map is structured this way. But if doing this in one mission can be somewhat engaging, then throughout all seven missions — no thanks.
On the other hand, if so many words were found to describe the campaign, it means the thing is still worthwhile
Attached are screenshots of missions 3 and 7. In the third, I showed "eagle eye" in action (battles with Barbarians); in the seventh – retraining "blindness," the process of un-necromancing from azure dragons, the battle for the garrison, Karasuchka before the finale, and the final result itself.
Auto-translated
Yeah, the campaign turned out to be more challenging than I initially thought.
I wonder if the author actually played through it? Or is it the same situation as with Limes Inferior on the highest difficulty? In any case, kudos to the author for the originality, and to you for completing this nightmare. I think this campaign finally met a truly worthy opponent after all these years.
If you remove the need to generate artifacts and spells, but keep the need to use Eagle Eye, it would be beneficial. Although, maybe that's not the author's style?:smile04:
Will you be trying out the author's other creations? It seems like this campaign is considered the most difficult, and there shouldn't be as much stress with the others. I'd be interested to know what "In Search of the Sword" and other scenarios are like.
Dirty_Player
Auto-translated
Some authors associate the concept of difficulty with deploying impenetrable armies, anti-magic garrisons, and heroes with stats of 90+ or higher, while giving the player a castle without a fortress, forcing them to accumulate resources for months to get started. Not everyone enjoys this kind of "difficulty." :smile38:
Marmot
Auto-translated
Here, here! I have a draft for "About perceived difficulty and impassable maps," which I need to post in the mapmaking forum (and also a draft for "How and why to test maps").
Marlo_Stanfield deserves a Hero star for completing this creation! It would be one thing if the difficulty stemmed only from understanding how to proceed and from the battles, but if completing the map requires generating specific combinations of spells, artifacts, and skills... then it's better to just scrap it.
By the way, I later identified a major flaw (or oversight by the author) in the map "Legiony potworow" and added it to the report, including a screenshot, and also added a couple more points. It turns out that I didn't have to start over for no reason.
Marlo_Stanfield deserves a Hero star for completing this creation! It would be one thing if the difficulty stemmed only from understanding how to proceed and from the battles, but if completing the map requires generating specific combinations of spells, artifacts, and skills... then it's better to just scrap it.
By the way, I later identified a major flaw (or oversight by the author) in the map "Legiony potworow" and added it to the report, including a screenshot, and also added a couple more points. It turns out that I didn't have to start over for no reason.
Auto-translated
Taking a break from "Legiony potworow", I decided to play through
Oh, it was not a good idea to start this game; the map is a complete brain explosion.
The goal is to capture a town. I set Necropolis as the default on the available options, since the author promised a tough challenge. I played as Red, with the necromancer Isra.
The starting necropolis was Justice, below Green Wood, with weak defenses; further below were a couple others with much stronger defenses. The mage guild in Justice taught Isra the town portal spell by week 2. Also, on our lands there are two seers. One requires level 30, the other level 60.
To our left are the lands of Blue, with the main hero Clavius. The lands are separated by green and red gates. None of the tents were visited initially, and you have to visit all of them without fail.
Next to the necropolis Atos Mortis (I'm not sure about the exact name) is a red tent, guarded by 4000 champions. There is no Cloak of the Undead King, not even any of its components; the battle is fought with only skeletons.
By month 3, having raised the number of skeletons to 50000, I captured Mistiapoulus, then Atos Mortis, killed the champions, and visited the red tent. After breaking through the legion of wizards behind the red gates, I picked up the Boots of Levitation.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the movements of Gray (his lands were to the right). His hero tried three times to cross a section of the lake and disappeared each time. A similar invisible guard was on the lake next to my lands. Isra was attacked by hundreds of Azure Dragons, thousands of Water Elementals, and many others as well. After defeating them, I got the Admiral's Hat, the Sphere of Rain, and a couple of other artifacts.
After defeating Blue, I eliminated him from the game. To proceed further, I needed to visit the green and blue tents. The blue tent turned out to be near Green's lands, despite all his attempts to hide it with the Veil of Darkness.
Going through a one-way portal in the upper left corner from my lands, I found a neutral Necropolis, Comfort Gabriel, also with a legion guard. I took it for myself. A nearby seer rewarded Isra with 4000 Faerie Dragons for my stats being at 99!! Fantastic!! Next to Comfort Gabriel is the green tent.
After crossing the lake, I landed on neutral lands not far from Gray. In the center stands the Necropolis Gabriel with a legion guard. I defeated it and captured it. Below is another necropolis with a similarly strong guard, and next to it is a brown tent, defended by 4000 Gold Golems. I defeated them too and took the town. Between the necropolises lie 3 Pandora's Boxes, with a legion of Phoenixes in front of the first, a legion of Archangels in front of the 2nd, and a legion of Azure Dragons in front of the 3rd. And in front of each is a guard requiring stats of 45 (for the 1st), 75 (for the 2nd), and 99 for the 3rd. By month 5, Isra's stats reached 99/99/99/99, so I decided to attack the boxes. If there's a catch, it's for a reason.
After opening the guard, I defeated the Phoenixes and opened the box. I used quick combat, defeated the legion of Phoenixes (6 or 7 thousand, maybe more) and got 1000 Phoenixes as a reward. I did the same with the 2nd box. After breaking through the Archangel defense, I captured the box and got 1000 Angels. The 3rd one was unlucky; after defeating the legion of Azures, I couldn't take the box. I turned off quick combat to see what was inside. I looked and was stunned - the guard consisted of 4000 Faerie Dragons and several groups of 9999 Azures. It's impossible to defeat them, and even if I got 1000 Azures in the end - no thanks, it's not worth the trouble.
While I was messing with the boxes, Gray approached Gabriel. Teleporting Isra to the town, I defeated him. For his insolence, Gray paid with his life - I captured both of his necropolises and Gray left the game. Then I headed east, into Green's lands. The goal was to visit the blue tent. On the way, I visited two seers and received rewards. Green couldn't get to the tent and the nearby necropolis because of 4000 Naga Queens blocking the path. At the sight of Isra, the Nagas fled, I captured the necropolis and visited the blue tent. In the process, I also killed Green.
The blue tent allowed me to open the gate guards at the very bottom of the map and visit the orange tent. Returning to Gabriel, I opened the gate guards below and attacked Cyan's hero - the Undead King, with legions and stats over 75. Using Shackles of War, I eliminated him and captured 2 Cloaks of the Undead King. Hooray! Later I recruited him from the tavern (despite the stats, the hero turned out to be level 1).
Returning to Comfort Gabriel, I opened the purple guard (visited the tent after the orange one), added a squad of Faerie Dragons to my army, picked up the Boots of the Saint and the Armor of Wonder (both artifacts were guarded by Archangels). The battle with them gave me several thousand Liches.
Going higher, I opened another Pandora's Box. A message appeared, something like "don't go there, you'll regret it." I didn't regret it, holy crap, the victory over who knows what gave me 25000 Sharpshooters!!! Plus the number of Liches reached 40000.
I was curious - what would the seer give for level 60? I already have the Cloak of the Undead King, I collected the Angelic Alliance piece by piece, the Power of the Dragon Father lies behind the purple guard (there was a funny incident with that). Through victories and visiting trees, I reached level 57.
Then my story took a strange turn. Ahead was Purple with Inferno. Even before that, after opening the gate guards on a small island to the right of Comfort Gabriel, I visited the purple tent. On the upper island, behind purple, blue, and orange guards, stands Cyan's hero, Heimit. In front of him are 4000 Faerie Dragons.
Seeing his army, the core of which is 9999 Red Dragons, I decided not to attack. I captured Purple's Inferno, killed the weak hero Belzebub, the passage to the last Inferno required killing the hero Azazel (Zeron). Azazel was standing still next to a portal, and nearby were also a Pandora's Box and the Sphere of Vulnerability.
Azazel's stats were equal to mine; his army had about 6000 Devils, the same number of Arch Devils, 7000 Ancient Behemoths, Chaos Hydras. I thought, forget it, my dragons and sharpshooters will deal with them in no time. Damn, how wrong I was! It was an epic fail! I don't know how, but a bunch of Behemoths killed 30000 Liches instantly!! I couldn't believe my eyes, I tried hitting them with a phantom, tried to resurrect the Liches. Then it got worse. In an instant, Azazel killed both the dragons and the 25000 Sharpshooters. I guess that's how King Darius III felt when Alexander the Great laid waste to his million-man army...
I reloaded the battle again and again - nothing helped. Okay, I'll try a different approach, but I'll kick Azazel's infernal ass. I sent Isra to gather troops from all the necropolises. I attacked everyone to increase the number of Liches. I defeated the remaining legions of Crystal Dragons and other dragons. I jumped across lakes, hoping to stumble upon the invisible guard that killed Gray's hero. I found it and got the Armor of the Damned. I already had the Spirit of Oppression.
I find it hard to believe what happened next myself. Having gathered 40000 Liches, along with hordes of Vampires, Knights, and other Necromancers, I attacked Azazel. First, I killed the Behemoths, then the Liches mowed down everyone in their path. What I couldn't achieve with 4000 Faerie Dragons and 25000 Sharpshooters, the Liches did. All honor and praise to them! Azazel turned out to have 2 Sharpshooter's Bows, a Hell Sword, a Sphere of Fire, and a couple of insignificant artifacts.
After taking the Sphere of Vulnerability and the contents of the Pandora's Box, I attacked the Inferno where Satan (the necromancer Lord Haart) was sitting. After killing him, I eliminated Purple from the game. Later I recruited him too (with all-99 stats, he also turned out to be level 1).
The death of Satan opened a passage to the underground gates to the right of Comfort Gabriel. Additionally, the guard required delivering 1 Azure Dragon and the Power of the Dragon Father. There's only one Frozen Cliff on the map, and in front of it are 4000 Azure Dragons guarding the Lion's Shield of Courage from the Angelic Alliance.
After defeating them, I took the shield. With another hero, I was collecting Azures (10 Azures were required by another guard to open the passage to another of Cyan's heroes, whom I also eliminated). He was blocking the upgrade fort, which is also needed to proceed (a couple of guards require Phoenixes, which can only be obtained by upgrading Firebirds from Fire Elemental summoning points).
There was a funny incident with the Power of the Dragon Father)). It was lying behind the purple guard, and I sent Clavius to get it. The attempt to take the artifact scared me - a message appeared: "So easy? Seriously?" Fearing a legion guard, I moved Clavius away and went in with Isra. The author was trolling - the artifact was guarded by 1 Ghost Dragon)).
The path to the dungeon is clear; I went to a clearing with several obelisks, a legion of Titans in the middle (they fled), and artifacts - the Statue of the Legion, 2 Titan's Thunders, and a few others. To the left are artifacts locked behind a black guard, below is a guard, and behind him a white tent. The guard required killing Heimit.
By the way, behind the white guard, near Green's necropolis, lie the Angel Wings.
Yeah, Heimit is a worse enemy than Azazel. In addition to 9999 Red Dragons, his army has 9999 Naga Queens, 9999 Evil Eyes, 9999 Liches, and others.
Before the fight with Heimit, I finally reached level 60 and claimed the reward - Armageddon's Blade. Naively, I thought the Armageddon spell would take out a large part of his army. No such luck, the effect was like a mosquito bite.
I attacked this bastard three times, killed everyone except the Red Dragons. Out of 9999, 7000 remained.
Marlo_Stanfield, god, how I miss your skill at killing dragons!.. I'll keep trying; his death will open the path and allow me to take the wings.
(I suspect the town that needs to be captured for victory is Conflux, standing on an island behind the black guard. The guard is minimal; with the wings, you can easily fly over the guard and finish the game. Although, maybe I'm wrong and the hardest part is yet to come).
"God Eater I"
I downloaded it from Marmot's post /topic/at/1089397/.Oh, it was not a good idea to start this game; the map is a complete brain explosion.
The goal is to capture a town. I set Necropolis as the default on the available options, since the author promised a tough challenge. I played as Red, with the necromancer Isra.
The starting necropolis was Justice, below Green Wood, with weak defenses; further below were a couple others with much stronger defenses. The mage guild in Justice taught Isra the town portal spell by week 2. Also, on our lands there are two seers. One requires level 30, the other level 60.
To our left are the lands of Blue, with the main hero Clavius. The lands are separated by green and red gates. None of the tents were visited initially, and you have to visit all of them without fail.
Next to the necropolis Atos Mortis (I'm not sure about the exact name) is a red tent, guarded by 4000 champions. There is no Cloak of the Undead King, not even any of its components; the battle is fought with only skeletons.
By month 3, having raised the number of skeletons to 50000, I captured Mistiapoulus, then Atos Mortis, killed the champions, and visited the red tent. After breaking through the legion of wizards behind the red gates, I picked up the Boots of Levitation.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the movements of Gray (his lands were to the right). His hero tried three times to cross a section of the lake and disappeared each time. A similar invisible guard was on the lake next to my lands. Isra was attacked by hundreds of Azure Dragons, thousands of Water Elementals, and many others as well. After defeating them, I got the Admiral's Hat, the Sphere of Rain, and a couple of other artifacts.
After defeating Blue, I eliminated him from the game. To proceed further, I needed to visit the green and blue tents. The blue tent turned out to be near Green's lands, despite all his attempts to hide it with the Veil of Darkness.
Going through a one-way portal in the upper left corner from my lands, I found a neutral Necropolis, Comfort Gabriel, also with a legion guard. I took it for myself. A nearby seer rewarded Isra with 4000 Faerie Dragons for my stats being at 99!! Fantastic!! Next to Comfort Gabriel is the green tent.
After crossing the lake, I landed on neutral lands not far from Gray. In the center stands the Necropolis Gabriel with a legion guard. I defeated it and captured it. Below is another necropolis with a similarly strong guard, and next to it is a brown tent, defended by 4000 Gold Golems. I defeated them too and took the town. Between the necropolises lie 3 Pandora's Boxes, with a legion of Phoenixes in front of the first, a legion of Archangels in front of the 2nd, and a legion of Azure Dragons in front of the 3rd. And in front of each is a guard requiring stats of 45 (for the 1st), 75 (for the 2nd), and 99 for the 3rd. By month 5, Isra's stats reached 99/99/99/99, so I decided to attack the boxes. If there's a catch, it's for a reason.
After opening the guard, I defeated the Phoenixes and opened the box. I used quick combat, defeated the legion of Phoenixes (6 or 7 thousand, maybe more) and got 1000 Phoenixes as a reward. I did the same with the 2nd box. After breaking through the Archangel defense, I captured the box and got 1000 Angels. The 3rd one was unlucky; after defeating the legion of Azures, I couldn't take the box. I turned off quick combat to see what was inside. I looked and was stunned - the guard consisted of 4000 Faerie Dragons and several groups of 9999 Azures. It's impossible to defeat them, and even if I got 1000 Azures in the end - no thanks, it's not worth the trouble.
While I was messing with the boxes, Gray approached Gabriel. Teleporting Isra to the town, I defeated him. For his insolence, Gray paid with his life - I captured both of his necropolises and Gray left the game. Then I headed east, into Green's lands. The goal was to visit the blue tent. On the way, I visited two seers and received rewards. Green couldn't get to the tent and the nearby necropolis because of 4000 Naga Queens blocking the path. At the sight of Isra, the Nagas fled, I captured the necropolis and visited the blue tent. In the process, I also killed Green.
The blue tent allowed me to open the gate guards at the very bottom of the map and visit the orange tent. Returning to Gabriel, I opened the gate guards below and attacked Cyan's hero - the Undead King, with legions and stats over 75. Using Shackles of War, I eliminated him and captured 2 Cloaks of the Undead King. Hooray! Later I recruited him from the tavern (despite the stats, the hero turned out to be level 1).
Returning to Comfort Gabriel, I opened the purple guard (visited the tent after the orange one), added a squad of Faerie Dragons to my army, picked up the Boots of the Saint and the Armor of Wonder (both artifacts were guarded by Archangels). The battle with them gave me several thousand Liches.
Going higher, I opened another Pandora's Box. A message appeared, something like "don't go there, you'll regret it." I didn't regret it, holy crap, the victory over who knows what gave me 25000 Sharpshooters!!! Plus the number of Liches reached 40000.
I was curious - what would the seer give for level 60? I already have the Cloak of the Undead King, I collected the Angelic Alliance piece by piece, the Power of the Dragon Father lies behind the purple guard (there was a funny incident with that). Through victories and visiting trees, I reached level 57.
Then my story took a strange turn. Ahead was Purple with Inferno. Even before that, after opening the gate guards on a small island to the right of Comfort Gabriel, I visited the purple tent. On the upper island, behind purple, blue, and orange guards, stands Cyan's hero, Heimit. In front of him are 4000 Faerie Dragons.
Seeing his army, the core of which is 9999 Red Dragons, I decided not to attack. I captured Purple's Inferno, killed the weak hero Belzebub, the passage to the last Inferno required killing the hero Azazel (Zeron). Azazel was standing still next to a portal, and nearby were also a Pandora's Box and the Sphere of Vulnerability.
Azazel's stats were equal to mine; his army had about 6000 Devils, the same number of Arch Devils, 7000 Ancient Behemoths, Chaos Hydras. I thought, forget it, my dragons and sharpshooters will deal with them in no time. Damn, how wrong I was! It was an epic fail! I don't know how, but a bunch of Behemoths killed 30000 Liches instantly!! I couldn't believe my eyes, I tried hitting them with a phantom, tried to resurrect the Liches. Then it got worse. In an instant, Azazel killed both the dragons and the 25000 Sharpshooters. I guess that's how King Darius III felt when Alexander the Great laid waste to his million-man army...
I reloaded the battle again and again - nothing helped. Okay, I'll try a different approach, but I'll kick Azazel's infernal ass. I sent Isra to gather troops from all the necropolises. I attacked everyone to increase the number of Liches. I defeated the remaining legions of Crystal Dragons and other dragons. I jumped across lakes, hoping to stumble upon the invisible guard that killed Gray's hero. I found it and got the Armor of the Damned. I already had the Spirit of Oppression.
I find it hard to believe what happened next myself. Having gathered 40000 Liches, along with hordes of Vampires, Knights, and other Necromancers, I attacked Azazel. First, I killed the Behemoths, then the Liches mowed down everyone in their path. What I couldn't achieve with 4000 Faerie Dragons and 25000 Sharpshooters, the Liches did. All honor and praise to them! Azazel turned out to have 2 Sharpshooter's Bows, a Hell Sword, a Sphere of Fire, and a couple of insignificant artifacts.
After taking the Sphere of Vulnerability and the contents of the Pandora's Box, I attacked the Inferno where Satan (the necromancer Lord Haart) was sitting. After killing him, I eliminated Purple from the game. Later I recruited him too (with all-99 stats, he also turned out to be level 1).
The death of Satan opened a passage to the underground gates to the right of Comfort Gabriel. Additionally, the guard required delivering 1 Azure Dragon and the Power of the Dragon Father. There's only one Frozen Cliff on the map, and in front of it are 4000 Azure Dragons guarding the Lion's Shield of Courage from the Angelic Alliance.
After defeating them, I took the shield. With another hero, I was collecting Azures (10 Azures were required by another guard to open the passage to another of Cyan's heroes, whom I also eliminated). He was blocking the upgrade fort, which is also needed to proceed (a couple of guards require Phoenixes, which can only be obtained by upgrading Firebirds from Fire Elemental summoning points).
There was a funny incident with the Power of the Dragon Father)). It was lying behind the purple guard, and I sent Clavius to get it. The attempt to take the artifact scared me - a message appeared: "So easy? Seriously?" Fearing a legion guard, I moved Clavius away and went in with Isra. The author was trolling - the artifact was guarded by 1 Ghost Dragon)).
The path to the dungeon is clear; I went to a clearing with several obelisks, a legion of Titans in the middle (they fled), and artifacts - the Statue of the Legion, 2 Titan's Thunders, and a few others. To the left are artifacts locked behind a black guard, below is a guard, and behind him a white tent. The guard required killing Heimit.
By the way, behind the white guard, near Green's necropolis, lie the Angel Wings.
Yeah, Heimit is a worse enemy than Azazel. In addition to 9999 Red Dragons, his army has 9999 Naga Queens, 9999 Evil Eyes, 9999 Liches, and others.
Before the fight with Heimit, I finally reached level 60 and claimed the reward - Armageddon's Blade. Naively, I thought the Armageddon spell would take out a large part of his army. No such luck, the effect was like a mosquito bite.
I attacked this bastard three times, killed everyone except the Red Dragons. Out of 9999, 7000 remained.
Marlo_Stanfield, god, how I miss your skill at killing dragons!.. I'll keep trying; his death will open the path and allow me to take the wings.
(I suspect the town that needs to be captured for victory is Conflux, standing on an island behind the black guard. The guard is minimal; with the wings, you can easily fly over the guard and finish the game. Although, maybe I'm wrong and the hardest part is yet to come).
Marlo_Stanfield
Auto-translated
I wonder if the author played through it himself?
Will you try other works by this author? It seems that this campaign is considered the most difficult, and there shouldn't be such a headache with the others. It would be interesting to know what "In Search of the Sword" and other scenarios are like.
Some authors associate the concept of difficulty with placing impenetrable armies, anti-magic garrisons, and heroes with 90+ stats on the map, and giving the player a castle without a fort, so that they have to spend months accumulating resources to develop. Not everyone likes this kind of "difficulty". :smile38:
if to complete the game, it is necessary to generate specific combinations of spells, artifacts, and skills... - that's better to just delete it.
oh, how I miss your ability to kill dragons!..
Auto-translated
Total playtime: 993 days
Marlo_Stanfield
Auto-translated
Nasos, but at least you managed to complete it without using the Eagle Eye ability. I don't even want to imagine how much of a hassle it was :D
Statistics
Welcome our newest member:
recijeb