Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Thanks - I already have a solution to place needed data)
About 50% of the coding/testing is done.

My problem is adding a "Require SoD_SP" option for mapmaker. I have not yet found a way to add data in mapeditor that
1 - still allows map to be opened by regular mapeditor
2 - does not allow map to be opened by Heroes3.exe without SoD_SP
3 - data will be saved by regular mapeditor

ACE can solve 1 & 2 - but is not saved by mapeditor - data gets lost.

I guess it's not very important but I keep looking.

I launched Paragon 2.0. According to the plot, at the very beginning, a stack of peasants and a stack of skilled crossbowmen should join the player. Problem: the plot message "blah-blah-blah, we want to join" appears, and then a battle starts immediately. They don't join! The in-game message "do you want them to join you" simply doesn't appear =(
Can you suggest how to solve this problem?
___
Answer: you need to disable the HW_rules plugin, as among other things, it makes the following change to the gameplay: "neutrals never join."

Well, it should be clear that modules created exclusively for online play should be disabled when playing single-player maps. Also, it should be reiterated that single-player maps from the SoD version should not be played in WoG or HotA (with the exception of purely strategic maps), as differences in the rules can make the map too difficult or impossible to complete.

Played another Aeries map yesterday in a couple of hours — The History. I liked it even less than Legend of Heroes. At least that one had some challenges; here, the only difficulty was taking a single Griffin Conservatory on day 3 with a giant and a master genie without losses (using Chain Lightning and Ice Bolt from magic) :D The map is also shoddy in that it's a rework of a randomly generated map. The computers have the traditional daily boost to creatures in castles, as well as a non-removable event granting 10 million XP and 999 mana upon leaving/entering towns. Unusual aspect: every tile on the map has a different overlay terrain. As I understand, this is tied to replacing the properties of the marsh scattered across the entire map. Mission objective: kill 300 azure dragons, whose number increases. The core gameplay boils down to grabbing the Pandora's Box with Fly and Dimension Door before the computers do. After that, a harsh and swift exterminatus begins. I played as Tower with the starting hero Elleshar.

Map Title: Rise of Devils
Author: Aeris Quamarine
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog

I really enjoyed this map. It's made in Aeris's traditional style, focusing on maps that aren't meant to be completed in just one or two game days. It's a remix of "Pandora's Box," designed to be engaging without being overly time-consuming, and encourages a fast-paced game. The victory condition is standard, but the main enemy is the ruler of the underworld. The losing condition is failing to achieve victory within 9 game months.

The map is in English, with a plot based on ancient Greek mythology, featuring gods as heroes. In this regard, the map is similar to Where the Beauty. You can play as 5 out of 6 factions (all except Red). The author's concept is that you start under relatively standard conditions, while the enemies, thanks to the resources they receive immediately, quickly capture outposts near bonus artifacts and gain stats and massive armies (legions of units from levels 1-7) through an event. Also, in their castles, troops increase every 3 days in quantities I haven't seen in any other map (see screenshot 1), and these castles are protected by anti-magic garrisons with decent defenses :D

I started the game as Rampart with the starting hero, Desso, and it was a good choice. Logistics is probably the most useful specialization for the main hero here. The map is island-based, with taverns in the castles, but no heroes available for hire, so you'll have to rely on prisons, just like in Legend of Heroes. The initial tasks are to collect sets of items (Admiral's Hat, Boots, and Gloves) from two locations on the map, quickly free imprisoned heroes, and secure nearby territories. In the castles, prioritize building mage guilds and learning all the necessary spells, up to the City Portal (all spells are available except Flight and Dimension Door).

Next, you need to make your way to Lydia's tower in the upper left corner. Near it, there are seer huts on the water that provide different factions with a substantial ranged army. It's easiest to reach this area from the starting position of the Orange player. For other factions, it might be more beneficial to take a different route, visiting the Blue and Azure tents in the center of the map. Beyond Lydia's city, a two-way monolith leads to the Pandora's Box from Greek mythology: behind a guard of tens of thousands of Medusas, you'll find experience, primary skills, artifacts, and troops.

The next important step is to break through to Dungeon and free Hermes. He has Flight and Dimension Door, which will allow him to collect legionary troops in events near our starting castles. After that, 2000 gold dragons were enough for me to clear the entire land part of the map in a few days. The Arcadia city area is very useful for this. There's a crazy fast recruitment point right in front of the castle (see screenshot 2).

After that, all that remains is to overcome the path to the Red faction. To do this, we need to acquire two King of the Undead cloaks, which is easy. I also collected 4 elemental books and took the Hellblade from the seer hut for a huge amount of resources (hello, Ray of Light), but you can and should do without the latter preparations, as nothing prevents us from casting Flight from the exit of the one-way monolith at 25.23.1 and flying to the final boss. This would have saved me a week and a half of game time.

And the final boss on this map is a separate story. You don't often encounter such a well-equipped opponent (although the battle is far from the most difficult in my experience) :eek: His equipment includes the Cursed Armor, Elixir of Life, Badge of Courage, artifacts for speed and resistance. He has all magic skills at the expert level, as well as attack and defense as secondary skills. Moreover, the battle takes place in a castle without a fort. And the most interesting thing is the completeness and size of the army (see screenshot 3). Even considering that I have the Vulnerability Medal, I had to struggle with him (I killed him in 2 attempts, I didn't have the patience for one). And without the medal, such a powerful army probably wouldn't have been defeated. Unless through a certain number of tricksters.

In the end, victory on 2.3.6.

Re: Walkthrough of author's maps (challenge on Chinese maps)
Map: Jennifer's Dream Journey (Memorial of Love)
Chinese: 珍妮弗环梦之旅（情之祭奠）
walkthrough review

1. Overall rating 8/10
Another map from the Chinese collection.
The map is VERY similar to the map from my previous review of the "Brave People" map. This map is also very similar to Wayfarer in all respects:
- for the first week, we play without a castle, calculating moves in advance to be able to take a castle within a week (which is done without much difficulty on day 6 or 7),
- the map is completely corridor-like; we cannot enter a new area until we finish clearing the zone. Exception: the game can be completed without taking 2 castles on the map, i.e., without opening 100% of the map,
- the LARGEST number of hidden artifacts and passages (and even a couple of events are hidden), which I have not seen in any map before.
- almost all the enemies are immobile. In essence, the map is a series of searching for artifacts and battles with a stronger enemy.
Nevertheless, either I haven't played Wayfarer in a long time, or this map seemed more difficult to me in terms of battles.
Positive distinctive features of this map: the battles can be diverse, with different strategies (in the castle, supporting the castle, in the field, etc.). Some battles required a lot of thought.
Many battles require the use of the landscape. The most interesting solutions can be seen below in the screenshots.
As the map progresses, the difficulty does not decrease significantly, despite our growth from all the castles.
In essence, the entire map is a series of searching for hidden artifacts, passages, and killing enemies in castles, although there are exceptions.
But I enjoyed the map and liked it, although I cannot give it a 10 out of 10, it lacks dynamics (there are no triggers or difficult puzzles).
The map is not bad for a speedrun, but I finished it at the end of the 11th month. Considering the corridor-like structure, I think a good result would be 8-9 months, and whether it is possible to complete it in less time, I don't know, those who want to can try.
The Chinese text is not important.
There are no buggy areas; everything in the map works 100%.

2. Nuances and map description:
- there are no taverns. Only after 2/3 of the map can you capture one single castle where you can build a tavern and buy the necessary heroes there, primarily Jela for archers. But the "daddies" remain the ones we played with from the prisons.
- there are no spells of flight and dimension door,
- berserk can be learned by buying someone from the enemies in the tavern who knows this spell and retraining them. IMHO, the author may have anticipated this option.
- there is no artifact sphere of prohibition, and the sphere of vulnerability is given only for a couple of final battles,
- there are no necropolises and no undead in general (and it makes no sense to take them from the tavern at the end, since the map is coming to an end), demons are also not profitable,
- there are all collections of artifacts (alliance of angels, titan's roar, AOTD, sniper bow, etc.),
- I could not dig up the grail because I opened the obelisks, but it was impossible to dig it up because it said "look for it in another location." IMHO, the author made a mistake here, or he deliberately made it impossible to dig up the grail.
- the map encourages accumulating money and increasing it due to the 2 ramparts, because at the end of the map there will not be enough money (especially if you are recruiting creatures for money).

3. Walkthrough and heroes.
I will not go into details here. The strategy is similar to other Chinese maps: the number of heroes is limited; we mainly play Orrin (at the beginning) and then Mephala (from the middle to the end of the game).
Only the armorsmith could adequately fight against forces that greatly outnumbered him. A logistician is also helping, but he does not lead serious battles.
Be careful and do not exceed your experience due to experience trees. For example, I played Mephala at level 74, and that was enough.
You cannot stall for too long, and there is no need to.
There is no need to choose skills; they are all "pre-installed."
It will be too late to recruit new heroes from the tavern, and it is not necessary.

4. Battles
The enemy's forces are superior, but since the map is static, we MUST ALWAYS double our mana + PASS the MORALE and LUCK BOOSTS, because our army is almost always "negative" in morale. We also select a set of troops for each enemy. Up to 80% of the battles are 2-3 ranged stacks (titans, wizards, and cyclops, later you can take snipers).
In the final stage, only titans remain among the ranged troops, the rest of the troops are archs (for clone/resurrection), as well as dragons (azure dragons are a must, and the rest are optional - rusty, crystal, etc.).
In some cases, you have to take exactly as many ranged troops as needed so that the enemy does not want to leave/flee the castle. Then it turns out to be clever: the enemy tries to kill our azure dragons with his ranged troops, and our arch clones raise them. At the same time, we kill his flying units in the castle with our ranged troops and "drain" the enemy's mana. According to practical observations, the enemy must outnumber us in ranged troops by 2-3 times, then he will not flee. The enemy is also very afraid of cyclops (so it is better to take titans and wizards). I discovered this strategy for myself for the first time, but it will only work with the armorsmith.
I would like to emphasize once again that quite often you have to use the landscape, especially this helped in the battle with Halon in the desolate lands, see the screenshot. Later, having found a Chinese guide, I saw that the Chinese passed it in a different place and in a different way, but also with the landscape. I chose my own option.
There are many battles, and the strategies are different, and this is what I like about this map.
Gorgons were needed only in one of the initial battles and in one battle in the middle of the game (to kill azure dragons). In general, bears pierce azure dragons much better.
A feature of almost all enemies: the presence of the skill magic resistance + always 3 artifacts for resistance. So you will have to experiment with random effects quite a bit.

P.S. What I learned new on the map is from a battle with a hero who has a lot of power and only 2-3 spells (blindness + healing + dispel magic). In another case, this is a hero with 56,000 phoenixes and also dispel magic and the second spell is armageddon. So, in a head-to-head battle, you cannot kill them, they are too strong. You can hide behind a force field with azure dragons and archers, but there are not enough shots (something will only work with frenzy). So, a useful observation: the enemy uses dispel magic only when you put buffs on your stacks that increase damage (blessing, prayer) or, for some reason, a fire shield. Then the enemy immediately dispels our force field (there is no sphere of dispel magic on the map), and we are finished. To prevent this from happening, I hid the archdevil + archer with a cart behind the force field + all the artifacts for speed + I gave the archdevil the spells "speed" and "protection from fire." The latter spells do not annoy the enemy, although he could dispel everything and finish us off. Therefore, we can sit behind the force field until the enemy runs out of mana, and only then we start shooting everyone with frenzy.

Couldn't find the Grail.

It has the same gimmick as Jedi Story; the Grail is located in a burrow.

It seems like a good map, and the battlefields are interesting. What will you play next?

As far as I understand, it's related to changing the properties of the tin scattered throughout the map.

Yes, it's amusing. I've seen this map, but I didn't check the tin specifically. Have you already played all of Aeris's maps?:)

I finished Dejavu Dreality today; only Fountain of Doom remains. Dejavu is an interesting map, but I don't feel like writing a detailed description. I'll just say that for half of the map, my main attacking force consisted of troglodytes. This was despite having archers and azure dragons available. And towards the end, I cleared out a garrison with 9999 azure dragons, 9999 ghost dragons, etc., using skeletons.

It's the same thing as with Jedi Story; the Grail is located in a burrow.
It seems like a good map, and the battlefields are interesting. What will you play next?

I played Jedi Story a long time ago, so this situation with the inability to dig up the Grail initially seemed like a bug, but then I became convinced that the author intended it that way (probably didn't know how to prevent placing the Grail in a flux and therefore limited its acquisition). The Grail on the map wouldn't hurt in a castle that provides a +2 bonus to morale; this would eliminate the need to visit morale-boosting locations before each battle.
I enjoyed the map; it's almost the same as Wayfarer.

The next map will also be Chinese. It's either a map by Woxin, whose maps are dynamic, with constant waves of enemies. I also have a couple of other maps planned:
仙剑奇侠传四 - Legend of the Sword and Knighthood
毁灭之路BT改良版 - Road to Destruction
中国 军阀混战地图超大版 - Chinese Warlord Melee Map (Large Version)
In general, I've downloaded about 20-25 Chinese maps, which I've reviewed in the editor and visually. Based on what I've seen, I've created a preliminary ranking for myself and am playing according to that ranking. I will write reviews about playing interesting maps, the goal of which is to increase the interest of our players in Chinese maps.

kolotok, after reading your review of the map "Brave People," I downloaded it and even played it a bit. It turned out that even in the first week, "not everything is so straightforward," and I made a mistake in one action and realized that I needed to replay it (there are 2 objects whose appearance has been changed, and you need to take the artifact first, and only then give away the Boots of Levitation). I think I'll try to complete it sometime; the battles with legions of enemy troops are appealing, and I already know that the map is relatively "typical" and it doesn't matter what is written in the texts.

Map Title: Dejavu Dreality
Author: Jani Aarnio and Aeris Quamarine
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog

Another map with two authors listed. And one of them is Aeris again. This time, the map is quite different from what Aeris has accustomed us to in his other XL-sized works. Dejavu Dreality is very unique, starting with the image on the minimap (some microorganisms under a microscope) and ending with the gameplay. At the same time, the game itself is similar to a psychedelic trip, which is related to Qin the Supreme, although the maps are different. But in both cases, strange things happen by heroic standards.

This time, it won't be possible to quickly complete the map in terms of game time. There is only one hero (I took Luna, but her special ability wasn't needed), there are no taverns at all, and at the start, the player is offered several options to choose from. For example, a scroll with teleportation or a prayer. The nearest town is much easier to capture with peasants using teleportation, but then it will be more difficult to get the prayer. There is also a quest to hand over the King of the Undead's cloak, but it seems like a trap. Without the cloak, it is extremely difficult to complete this map in the later stages of the game (although there are options).

Most of the castles here are random. Only one type of creature level is built in them, and these creatures are given out in huge quantities at once. For example, my first castle generated as a Dungeon. Accordingly, I had to play with 9000 troglodytes. Almost immediately, I free the second hero from the dungeon. This is Lord Haart, level 3732, with poor skills and reset primary stats, but with necromancy. He is needed, of course, to earn money, and in the later stages of the game, he can farm liches (I didn't use this).

At the exit of the starting area of the map, there is a garrison guarded by a total of 8000 different golems. In theory, it can be broken through with any level 1 creatures, but it is easier to do with some, and more difficult with others. Next, we go to the water. An interesting feature of the map: almost the entire underground level (and we start in the underground) is water with small islands, and almost all the land on the map is territory with penalizing terrain (mainly swamp). At the same time, logistics, pathfinding, and navigation are banned on the map (!), which is why events in Dejavu Dreality unfold very slowly. After going to the water, we take two more castles, and the red orb will be useful in battles. Here we get units of levels 6 and 3. In my case, cyclops and orcs appeared, so I had to develop the hero through ranged attacks. Among the artifacts that can randomly appear on the map, there are all 4 elemental orbs and the amulet of courage, so our hero will not be afraid of low morale.

After getting units of levels 1, 3, and 6, we pass through the zone with the Conflux. A grail should be placed in it. After studying magic, we find that there are not enough spells in the spellbook. At the same time, some magic can be learned on the map by defeating enemies who possess it (prayer, frenzy, clone, forgetfulness), but eagle eye is not needed. However, a number of spells are banned on this map, and the list is very curious: slow, haste, blind, heal, dispel, quicksand, force field, antimagic. The berserk scroll can be obtained only at the very end, when it will be useless.

After the Conflux, we go out into the open sea. Here we will be met by four red heroes, and at the beginning, we will have to avoid encounters with them. They move much faster than us, but our advantage is the Admiral's hat. We gradually explore the entire underground, capture castles, gather the power of the dragon father, gain stats, and defeat enemy heroes in varying degrees of cunning battles. The snowy zone in the center of the map is useful; there, azure and angel creatures with archangels join us. In the comments on maps4heroes, people wrote that one of the red heroes, namely Sir Mule, killed the enemy quest hero, which made the map unplayable, but I did not encounter such problems. Sir Mule gathered the main army on himself, ran near the hero Elk, but did not attack him. Regarding battles: there were a couple of difficult ones. Without ranged troops, there would be huge problems with defeating heroes with 2000 + 2000 cavalry and champions, as well as 2000 + 2000 black knights and knights of terror (there is no quicksand, and slow only comes from the cursed armor, with which our hero has ridiculous stats). The most difficult hero in the underground turned out to be Aeris with legions of pegasus. I defeated him with magog thanks to the selection of units that he bought in the refugee camp.

After gathering power and defeating the hero William, we go to the land level of the map. Here we are waiting for a huge swampy area with two Necropolises, which are patrolled by Kirr, Gunnar, and Dessa. After dealing with them, we defeat a number of heroes who are calmly standing in this area. Artifacts for morale and luck drop from them. They are required to pass 7 guardians, who block our way to the next zone. The problem is that one of the artifacts (glyph of gallantry) is not on the map at all, so you can only go further by defeating the garrison in the center of the map, which is guarded by 9999 azure dragons, supported by other creatures. This is where the King of the Undead's cloak will come in handy. In the events before the Lotus castle, you can fight legions of ghosts and farm a good number of skeletons. Plus, battles with enemy heroes. As a result, Luna defeated the garrison, having 163 thousand skeletons, attack in secondary skills, and stats of 80. After the battle, about 140 thousand skeletons remained.

Then we pass through the central zone and go to the sand. We visit the black tent. We continue to farm skeletons. In the finale, we are waiting for battles with five interesting heroes. The first is Mefala, level 108, with the power of the dragon father and a sniper bow. She was extremely difficult to defeat, even with 300 thousand skeletons (!). Then we are waiting for high-level Tants with resurrection, Xyron with inferno, Astral with hypnosis, and Adele with blessing. In these battles, without legions of skeletons (or liches), there is nothing to catch. Although there is a quest with the possibility of handing over 300 azure creatures in exchange for 9999 fairy dragons, but collecting such a number of azure creatures takes a very long time, and skeletons defeat the garrison with azure creatures no less effectively. The final boss, Dr. Unknown, has no troops. We attack, and immediately win. I finished the game on 7.2.7.

One thing remains unclear to me: the digging of the grail on this map. The digging point is in the water, and I didn't come up with a way to get to the water in that zone.

Map Name: Fountain of Doom
Author: Aeris Quamarine
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog

This is the last map by Aeris that I played. In the comments on maps4heroes for his various works, he repeatedly mentioned that he was preparing a map called Princesses, which was supposed to be the pinnacle of his work, but it seems he didn't finish it.

Fountain is an L-sized map; as far as I understand, it's a hardcore version of the standard Pestilence Lake map. The author himself describes his work as follows: "Extremely impossible map, try it at your own risk." Honestly, I didn't encounter any extreme difficulties during the playthrough, although the map is certainly not easy. In its structure, Fountain of Doom reminded me of Limes Inferior: the same size, the same endless waves of enemy heroes, the same obstacles on the way to the enemy in the form of heavily guarded garrisons that need to be broken through as quickly as possible, and an overall scarcity of resources. The map has many elements that depend on chance: starting castles and heroes, artifacts, spells in cities. Even the castle and, consequently, part of the troops, except for archangels and wizards, as well as the final boss, are randomly generated. On the one hand, this makes each player's playthrough unique; on the other hand, it can either make it easier or more difficult.

I started with a Swamp hero, Gervulf, with the bonus artifact "Necklace of Swiftness." The nearest blue computer turned out to be an Inferno faction. Logistics is banned on the map, but specialists in logistics and heroes who have it as a starting skill still have this valuable skill here. After roughly assessing what is required of the player on this map, I almost immediately switched to Kirra as my main hero, also buying Monera. The task for the first two weeks is to ignore building up my own cities and gather the parts of the Cursed Armor in the center and quickly attack the blue player. He breeds the first two levels of creatures in the central castle. At the same time, he quickly builds up, so the sooner we take him down, the easier it will be for us later. After completely eliminating the blue player by the end of the second week (the joined storms at the very beginning helped a lot), I realized that for further progress, I would have to break through one of the garrisons guarded by megadragons. With this goal in mind, I bought Andra, and Kirra first outsmarted the garrison, removing snipers, wizards, and master djinns from it. At the same time, in the castles, mage guilds were being built at a rapid pace (first for Town Portal, then for Blindness, Berserk, Resurrection, and Prayer). I also placed devils in one of the computer's castles (they were already there in the central one).

Gradually, purple heroes began to appear in the center of the map. Their armies were quite small, but the heroes themselves, when they appeared, encountered an event that gave them experience and mana, as a result of which they were immediately leveled up to level 33. After eliminating such a hero, he can be immediately bought back in his tavern. I had a good laugh at the quality of the computer's leveling. For example, Pikedram learned various schools of magic but didn't learn Wisdom; other heroes didn't learn magic at all but filled their slots with items and training. It seems that the AI doesn't have any prioritization of secondary skills when leveling up. Also, at the beginning of the second month, a level 67 turquoise computer with a huge Inferno army and a Vulnerability Medal appeared. Andra, with Berserk, was able to defeat him and immediately after that broke through the dragon garrison. It turned out to be possible to do everything quickly, before the purple player started getting reinforcements in all the castles. Then, hundreds of gold dragons were killed to learn the Summon Ship spell, and archdevils were placed in the castle to, with the Necklace of Swiftness, outrun the hundred azure dragons that needed to be defeated in the dungeon. Andra found a scholar with Flight and then captured one of the pink player's castles, which can only be done by interrupting flight on an active castle cell, and also flew to the center of the map to the turquoise player's castle, catching him by surprise (there were 46 archdevils that hadn't been bought yet). Only the final pink boss remained, who, in my case, was in a Rampart. I had to deal with Rylando. The battle was without the Sphere of Vulnerability (it is surrendered before the castle through a quest), Rylando's combat stats are 50+ with our 10+, and the computer has a significant advantage in the army. But 73 archdevils, supported by mana-stealing imps, were able to win quite confidently. Victory on 2.3.6 with the Grail dug up (I barely found the digging point in the underground jungle).

After completing the game, I can say that for guaranteed success on this map, you need a hero with a specialty in intelligence and, preferably, all schools of magic, archdevils, artifacts for speed, and good spells in the cities. You can also set all flags to one type of castle (Inferno).

kolotok, after reading your review of the map "Brave People," I downloaded it and even played it a bit. It turned out that even in the first week, "not everything is so straightforward," and I made a mistake in one action and realized that I needed to replay it (there are 2 objects whose appearance has been changed, and you need to take the artifact first, and only then give away the Boots of Levitation). I think I'll try to complete it sometime; the battles with legions of enemy troops are appealing, and I already know that the map is relatively "typical" and it doesn't matter what is written in the texts.

Good luck! In my opinion, the beginning of this map is not as difficult as in others.
I lost many saves, but some things remained. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
It will be interesting to hear the opinions of other players.

Re: Walkthrough of custom maps (challenge on Chinese maps)
Map: Invincible Hero
Chi. 英雄无敌
Author: chen5262
walkthrough review, rating 8/10

After completing this map, I had to use a deductive method to find its name, as it was downloaded from a Chinese site and reading the title was impossible. The only thing I could read in the map description was the author's name "chen5262". I downloaded a couple of his maps from the Internet and found the right one.
Previously, I already reviewed another map by this author, "Picturesque Land" 《江山如画》, which, as a reminder, caused quite a bit of trouble—true hardcore; you can find the review in this thread on page 126. The map under review is similar in some ways, but easier.
General impressions of the map and what it contains:
- absence of the "power-up" phase during the 1st week typical for Chinese maps, provided you know the "Heroes" mechanics,
- lack of corridor-like design, freedom to choose where to go and what to do,
- fast start and AI opponents arriving at your respawn from all sides with stronger armies,
- events unfold quickly and dynamically, many skirmishes,
- no secrets, hidden artifacts, passages, or events,
- it is a combat-oriented map; there are almost no "bring this, take that" quests, only a couple of seers on the map,
- emphasis is placed on logistics management, knowledge of AI behavior (where they will go and what they will take), maneuvering between AI opponents while solving your own tasks in parallel,
- legions of troops are held by up to 10 enemy heroes; your forces and the AI's forces are more or less reasonable,
- designed for a completion time of no longer than 6 months, everything is fast.
No text, no bugs, the map is 100% beatable.
I liked the map because of its dynamics; I played without stopping. For me, this is more fun than fully staged "step-by-step" corridor maps.

1. Beginning (111 – 147)
We start as Dessa in the middle of the map on swampy lands.
Task: with the smallest possible forces, acquire gold as quickly as possible (you can break through the dwarves on day 1 and get a couple thousand gold), hire a few heroes, and then clear the territory with them.
We have only 1 starting Castle, and we can capture a second one shortly.
At first, everything is easy to capture, but the calm is deceptive: by 1-3-1, AI opponents are preparing to enter your territory from 5 sides surrounding your location:
- in the northwest, same as "flax" (2 Castles)
- in the north, Inferno (2 Castles),
- in the west, Stronghold (3 Castles),
- in the southeast, Rampart (2 Castles),
- in the southwest, human Castles (4 of them).
By this time on 131, I have built gnolls, lizards, and flies in one Castle, and the same plus suitcases and wyverns in the second.
I conclude that with such forces it is impossible to oppose the AI (as they are already coming with level 7 creatures).
Assessing the situation, I decide to attack an AI opponent myself and leave my location. I choose "flax" as the target of my attack (because of the speed and growth of birds, since if this AI is not captured later, an expert in air magic with phoenixes will destroy our army in one turn); on 1-2-5 I break through a cordon of black knights and capture two flax cities by 1-3-1, while purple and blue are already roaming the starting respawn, with blue deciding not to reclaim flax but heading for our respawn instead.
The growth from flax over 2 weeks is enough to slip south, capture 3 human Castles, and get archangels. If this is achieved, it can be said that the beginning was successful.
Blindness and Restoration are unavailable and can only be obtained much later, so it is important to get Clone in the 4th Castle; then you can clumsily conduct battles with archangels without losses.
Only Dessa can literally run between enemies and escape them; "losers" (fodder heroes) can be killed at any moment—they often put themselves forward as sacrifices. Therefore, artifacts are kept only on the main hero — Dessa.

2. Middle Stage (211 – 347)
The middle stage consists of a journey through all surrounding locations to visit all skill-up points, learn necessary magic, and develop Dessa to level 30 (requires a passage guardian). The final point will be Dessa's path to the northwesternmost Castle and freeing Kirri from prison with knowledge of Town Portal and the ability to relearn magic for all our heroes.
Regarding important magic: in the northeasternmost Tower, you can and should learn Blindness and Water Walking. And in the far southwest — Restoration (the only same-level castle in the overworld where this is possible).
But it's easier said than done. The chaos begins:
− the AI throws other heroes with armies at us from one-way teleports,
− green arrives from the west on 221 with an undead army and knowledge of FLY, so he flies across the map as he pleases,
− shortly after, yellow visits from the west with knowledge of FLY and an army,
− grey knows TOWN PORTAL (has a book of earth magic) and already has more than a legion of black dragons and legions of Dungeon forces (by 221 we have bought up to 13 archangels and 27 phoenixes).
We don't have handcuffs yet; in case of loss, the AI plays tricks by exploding our archers and fanatics. Battles can only be conducted normally by pinning the AI in a Castle or if the AI can be killed in the first round, or in the second with a wait.
At this point, I thought the game would end soon and I'd be wiped out :) but no :)
We simply run away from stronger AI heroes, kill weaker ones, and get artifacts (including assembling the Legion Statue). In two Sanctuaries, we place "losers" with some army to reclaim captured Castles. Overall, the main thing is to reclaim Castles and take the growth of archangels, archers, fanatics, and phoenixes (as an option).
We level up a couple of our fodder heroes so they can also teleport and help; we maximize Tazar's development and make him the main hero.
This stage ends with the liberation of Kirri. With Town Portal, everything becomes significantly easier and more dynamic for us.

3. Final Stage (411-537)
Gradually pressure the enemies:
− in the Dungeon, capture all possible Castles, and hold those conquered; if given the chance, crush weaker AI opponents,
− try to catch strong AI heroes in a Castle and pin them,
− buy up growth for our own army,
− collect Sniper's Bow, AoTD, and other important artifacts.
Logistically, we have 2 paths:
1) break through 200 azure dragons at sea (this can be done with Tazar by hiding archangels in a corner), and sail into the Dungeon, from where you can sequentially capture the AI's home locations and finish off their mains: yellow (Orrin – human Castles), purple (Kilgor – Strongholds), tea-colored (Xiron – Inferno), violet (Astral – Tower).
2) in the southwest, break through 400 archangels on cursed land, descend into the Dungeon, and start reclaiming Dungeons and Necropolises.
Battles are now mainly conducted by Tazar. Kirri and Dessa, while speeding up, open passage guardians and capture Castles with unbought growth.
Towards the end of the game, we suddenly learn Fly in one of the Necropolises, but this no longer disrupts the game since we have already cleared more than 85% of the map. So Fly is no longer a "cheat" moment, but simply speeds up the game.

4. Final Battles.
In the end, Tazar kills 3 bosses, which isn't very difficult with our archangels and Tazar:
- Moner in flax,
- Sandro in the Necropolis,
- Mutera Drake with dragons (a somewhat difficult final battle, but here the main thing is to kill 3000 Wizards and hide archangels in the corner of the Castle so that we are attacked by a maximum of one stack of dragons; I don't see any other way to pass).

Hero development, artifacts, magic, features
- several artifacts are missing from the map: Medal of Vulnerability, Sphere of Prohibition, Berserk magic,
- the number of heroes in the tavern is limited; one cannot re-hire enemy heroes,
Tazar is our main hero, skills: Wisdom, Earth, Water, Fire, Logistics, Pathfinding, Armor and Intelligence.
Dessa: Wisdom, Earth, Water, Fire, Logistics, Pathfinding, Tactics and Intelligence. Main for the first half of the map.
In general, Intelligence is highly desirable for everyone, as the initial and middle stages take place with stats 20-30, and there won't be enough mana for Clone/Resurrect and a reasonably normal battle.
Tazar basically managed without Tactics. Fire is desirable, even though Berserk is missing. But you can blind enemies and hit them with archangels without retaliation, which allows winning some battles in principle.
Fodder heroes also need to be developed: Logistics+Pathfinding, Earth+Wisdom+Intelligence. The rest as desired.
Attack and Defense can be leveled equally; emphasize Knowledge rather than Spell Power.
I attach the map for all who wish.

Map name: 25more next
Version: English, 3.9
Author: Frifix
Downloaded: from the Heroesportal map catalog

I played through this map. Probably the most challenging map I've played recently.

The author himself notes on the drachenwald website that the structure of 25more is radically different from other difficult scenarios like Metataxer's Revenge or Unleashing the Bloodthirsty. Here, we have a completely open world, and the AI is not restricted in its movement across the map.

We play as the Tower. At the start, there are immediately 8 heroes, which is a bit disconcerting, but the main events will unfold in the snowy zone. The other heroes scattered across the map are scouts who collect gold and resources for the first few days, and then flee/are dismissed. On day 1, we free Ayne from prison. She starts with expert logistics, boots, and gauntlets. I immediately gave her diplomacy and joined troops at the respawn point. Throughout the game, Ayne was the second most important hero. Her key advantage is her navigation, literacy, and diplomacy skills. I also recruited Mefala from the tavern – my future main hero. I was also developing about five other heroes in parallel.

On this map, everything needs to be done quickly, as after two in-game months, all gold and resources are taken away daily. In the first week, I joined nagas, titans, djinns, and mages, and placed Mefala in a cage in the lower garrison. Resources and gold were greatly helped by an ally at the beginning (surprisingly, he survived on this map).

At the beginning of the second week, I captured three red castles, learned the "Summon Ship" spell from the wizard at 0.109.0 (although I could have bought Silvia in the tavern; she starts with the "Summon Ship" spell in her spellbook), and took the "Town Portal" scroll at 28.127.1. Ayne sailed off to explore the central sandy zone, and Mefala, by the end of the second week, went to cause trouble for the Inferno neighbors. Resurrection was learned from Jeddite.

In the third week, I continued to expand into the Inferno lands and began to harass the brown faction. The map is structured in such a way that when weak heroes of any faction are killed, the jailers in the technical zone begin to release stronger heroes. As a rule, the last two heroes in each faction's line are the most dangerous. The second to last have noticeably larger armies and stats, and three of them are logistics experts. And the last heroes all have flight, monstrously large armies and stats, and powerful artifact combinations. For example, Orrin with the Cursed Armor and Cloak of Negation, and Lord Haart with the Might of the Dragon Father.

By the end of the fourth week, all the land and some of the underground castles of the AI factions had been captured. Ayne also partially explored the small snowy zone in the center of the Dungeon. Only there can you learn Clone, Berserk, and Force Field. However, you should only go there with a Wizard's Well, as the unremovable events at the entrance drain all your mana.

The fifth week was intense. It was during this period that the quests with timers were completed (the Amulet of Life for the Pendant of Courage and stats for two Spheres of Inhibition), and the red Kirr and Orrin were killed, as well as the orange Xeron with the Armageddon Blade, who, using flight, took the Boots of the Dead, which are only available to the AI and are a necessary condition for obtaining the Angel Wings, and the green Dessa and Tazar. The brown faction, led by Kragg, died without castles. Theoretically, it was possible to defeat the red faction without castles by breaking through the whirlpool to the strongholds in the lower right corner, but I didn't think of it. But nothing, in the end, Orrin gave up the Cloak of Negation, as he cannot cast flight with it. Orrin was lured under the castle, and after that, a hero with fire magic, in several attempts, tricked him with expert berserk. Then Mefala finished him off. The same fate awaited Xeron, except that the battle, even after a series of tricks, when Xeron was left with only archdevils and 6 packs of mages, was surprisingly difficult. I could also have left the green faction, led by Tazar, without castles for 7 days, but I decided not to. Tazar has the Sphere of Vulnerability, and without it, some of the undead and the final orange hero in the Tower would be much more difficult to defeat. Tazar was killed after being placed in a city, as he turned out to be a big fan of antimagic.

The sixth week was essentially the final one. Finally, I leveled Mefala to 40, collected the Titan's Thunder, and took the Boots of the Dead from Xeron. Therefore, I went and got the Angel Wings. After that, I freed the useless Vidomina at 2.2.5.

Towards the end of the week, Lord Haart arrived, and this is perhaps one of the most difficult AI heroes I have ever faced. Combat stats of 100, 18,000 powerful liches (!), 9,000 vampire lords, 7,000 knights of terror, 3,000 ghost dragons, legions of spirits, 500 phoenixes, and the Might of the Dragon Father for dessert. That is, even the Medal of Vulnerability is useless against such an enemy, and you can't kill him with magic, not even a supply cart. And I only have 100 archangels and archdevils, and about 70 titans. As a result, I spent about four hours with him. At first, I tried to give him different artifacts so that he would change the Might of the Dragon Father, but no luck. Then I put him in a city, attacked him with Ayne in the first trick, and drained his mana, which is not easy to do, as he can only summon elementals and hit us with powerful magic (usually chain lightning, but there is no anti-lightning amulet on the map). Ayne is my only hero with explosion. Therefore, she destroyed almost all the ghosts with it, leaving a few (you can't kill them all, otherwise Lord Haart will then divide the liches into two stacks). In the second trick, I attacked with Mefala with 100 archdevils and 2200 mana. Lord Haart, without explosion, so after the liches shoot, all the enemy troops fly out. I had to calculate it so that after the last shot of the liches, we would only have elementals left. Then I also had to resurrect the archdevils so that he wouldn't kill them immediately with phoenixes. In general, it was fun. In the end, there was enough mana to kill the phoenixes, liches, and vampires with Berserk. The knights of terror and ghost dragons were killed the next day.

Then, all that remained was to place the Grail in the Tower of Hundertwasser, fly with the wings to the city of Michelangelo, kill the orange hero Mom Hurry sitting in it, wait 7 days for the last hero of this faction (the jailer) to die, and that was it – victory at 2.4.3, that is, even before the moment when all resources and gold were supposed to start decreasing. At the same time, without collecting the Cloak of the Necromancer.

In general, in the course of the game, I largely ignored the author's intention. The author, obviously, thought that the player would free Vidomina, collect the cloak, and somehow farm liches. But how? To farm them, you need to fight someone. But by that time, only strong enemies remain, and on Lord Haart, there are enough of them. Moreover, Vidomina also needs to be leveled up somewhere adequately. Another flaw of the author is that he underestimated the possibilities of the Angel Wings. He thought that the player would only reach the Michelangelo castle by water, completing the quest and taking the Clover of Fortune, which can only be obtained with the Door of Dimensions. And to get the Door of Dimensions, you need to complete a huge number of quests, including bringing at least 15,000 liches. But the trick is that from turn 3900, you can fly to the zone with firebirds, and from there, the next day, to Michelangelo. With the Medal of Vulnerability, the final battle is reasonably manageable, although the enemy troops came out of the castle on tactics, so in the first rounds, you need to drive them back and block the gates. I think that 2.4.3 on this map is a result that the author would be quite surprised by.