Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

When were the 35 improved Wasps defeated? I tried this battle on day 116 with a save from Marlo and the same bonus.

Somewhere in the beginning of the second week, without any particular problems. There's no point in rushing so hard. First, we build the Capitol, then the troops. By day 137, everything is ready. On day 141, we take the secondary Citadel. After this battle, I actually finished. On day 211, the plan is to break the garrison of the blue player and quickly destroy him, gaining an advantage and avoiding unnecessary problems.

Around the beginning of the second week, without any particular problems. There's no point in rushing so hard. First, build the Capitol, then the troops. By day 137, everything is ready. On day 141, we take the secondary Citadel. After that battle, I actually finished. On day 211, the plan is to break the garrison against the blue player and quickly destroy him, gaining an advantage and avoiding unnecessary problems.

I understand. Vaskov can be defeated on day 116 with the loss of 3 cows and a few gnolls. Losing 2 cows required some pretty good RNG. After that, there's a desire to build an Oracle. This is with a ballista, but it does very little damage; it's only needed to distract.

Understood. Vaskov manages to break through on day 116, losing 3 cows and a few gnolls. After losing 2 more cows, I had to rely on some pretty tough RNG. After that, I felt like I should build an Oracle. This is with a ballista, but it deals very little damage and is only useful for distracting.

Without any Oracle, I cleared both spawns and didn't lose a single bull. They are very important later on.
By the way, the Oracle for morale/luck stopped working for me on Windows 7... If it's a system issue, it won't even make me build an HP building.

Without any Oracle, he cleared both respawn points and didn't lose a single unit) They are very important later on.
By the way, the Oracle for morale/luck stopped working for me with Windows 7... If it's a system issue, it won't even make me switch to XP))))

As far as I know, Marlo wasn't happy with these losses and hasn't continued past this point yet. It's good that it's not necessary to play at such a pace:)

I also have Windows 7, and everything works except for Battle Oracle:(

As far as I know, Marlo wasn't happy with these losses and hasn't continued beyond this point. It's good that we don't need to maintain such a pace.

I also have Windows 7, and everything works except for Battle Oracle:(

Forget about this Limes guy :D

I tried giving Jelu bags of gold and the horn of plenty, but he still won't remove the sphere. But there must be some way. It's not just a random item the author left him as a reminder.

Nah, forget about that Lyra :D

If, by chance, a situation arises in life that gives me a lot of free time, maybe I'll come back to it). Just like offline in general.

I tried giving Jelu bags of gold and the Horn of Plenty, but he still won't take off the sphere. But there must be some way. It's not just a coincidence that the author left him with a "forgetfulness" charm.

Give him the entire pool of artifacts using cheats) See what he's willing to trade the Amulet of Shielding for.

The Diablo or Dark Man map

In general, another Chinese map has been completed. /topic/at/1034979/

I would be grateful to Marlo_Stanfield if he could provide a link to the original source for downloading the map (I want to know the more precise name and see how others have played it, especially the beginning and timing).

This map reminds me of a couple of maps by Woxin; they share similar principles with an open world and waves of enemy heroes, about which I've already made a few reviews.

The map was finished on day 11, week 4, day 3. It’s clearly very long, but nevertheless. I think that according to the author's idea, it should be completed in 4-6 months, but this requires playing at a very fast pace throughout the game, planning strategies, etc. I only managed the first 4 weeks :)

Here are the main points regarding the map:

1) The first 3-4 weeks must be played VERY quickly. Previously, I wrote about completing up to day 137. And you also need to play the 4th week very quickly. Otherwise, much will not be accomplished, and the computer will defeat you sooner or later. This is key to further development. Enemy heroes appear at the beginning of the second month, and before these sad events, many things need to be done. If you are interested, look a few pages back in this thread; I described in detail what needs to be done.

2) After killing Brokhild in the city of Midshir (west of the underground map) and opening the blue tent, make this city your residence, fortify yourself from the sea along the perimeter so that no one arrives by boat. And against those who know how to walk on water, summon boats and place a couple of heroes so that no one gets to our island and takes the blue tent; this blocks enemy development. This is our safe point on the map and the starting point for expansion. A screenshot is attached.

3) You don't have to wait for anything on the map. Sorash and Brokhild should be killed as soon as possible, even if you lose all birds and crystal creatures in your army; they won’t be needed later. I didn't succeed, but maybe you can: abandon everything and rush immediately to the enemy lands and take free troops there through quests, but you must do this before day 311, which is not easy. Nevertheless, in this case, everything will go easier afterward. I couldn't manage it.
Immediately, literally from the beginning of the second month, you can send Craig and Zidar across the map to visit stat-boosting locations, capture resource bonuses, complete quests, etc. Simply accumulating strength will not work: the computer has much more, and it controls the castles with aggression alone.

3) From the 2nd to the 6th month, you need to develop Zidar and Craig, who know magic well, get Dragon Town portal, and gather 7 creatures from external dwellings to obtain the Earth Magic book for Craig, i.e., the second town portal. The sooner you do this, the better. Almost all troops and stats for Craig are obtained through scouts, by killing enemies, so it is advisable to familiarize yourself with what we will receive for each head and move in that direction. And capturing castles for resources is also very important, especially archdevils, bears, and wizards – they are the basis of our army. Later, we take phoenixes and azure dragons, but this is an expensive undertaking. Gorgons, cyclops, archers, grand elves were almost useless in the game. Imps are only useful for Hitran and in the first half of the game. Therefore, you can safely sell them all and buy azure dragons instead.

It is desirable to kill Loenis (to get the 2nd boots of levitation and access to the castle with a tavern), Mullich (to get the clone spell), release griffins, and develop them - Kiryk and Kaitlin as quickly as possible. With resurrection-type heroes like Orrin and Kiryk, you can give archers, and they will travel around the map and capture unguarded castles, then hide in nooks that exist in some places. In short, the end of this stage is obtaining the Earth Magic book for Craig; after that, everything will be easier.

4) From the 6th month onwards, finish completing quests for stats and armies, gradually defeat enemy enemies, and gain control over the map. Craig is definitely our main hero. Starting from the 6th month, I had more or less normal battles, and I switched from defense to attack. It is very desirable not to immediately kill several heroes of the same faction; otherwise, they will be released from prisons simultaneously and consolidate their forces on someone. Here, choose: either kill weak ones right away and then accumulate strength against one mega boss (but then we have control over the map), or fight against several weaker bosses (but control over the map is lost). I went with the first option, and the game was prolonged. Against the mega-bosses of the map – Gundul, Ellezar, Tazar, Moandar, Tant, Solmyr, etc., I fought from the 10th to the 11th month.

A feature of the map is that there is no magic in the castles, and computers only use what is prescribed for them, usually from 4 to 8-10 spells, which both makes battles easier (for example, defending or attacking a castle) and complicates them (the computer does not waste time on trivial things but casts speed and prayer immediately, and it is not easy to defeat such an opponent in an open field). Also, many have amulets of blindness and immunity to mind magic, which also complicates matters.
On the map, I found a "safe point" where you can hide archdevils
(in my opinion, 91-23-0 in the snows) and where only single-hex units have access, but I never used it :)
Difficult battles were with Ellezar (depleting his mana when he has 4900), Xyron (many troops), etc. The main tactic in battles: Craig attacks with prayer using all forces and eliminates all enemy ranged attackers in the first round, loses almost everyone except archdevils, applies anti-magic to them, hides behind a forcefield, and gradually defeats everyone else.
There are only two mana doublers on the map, near the end of the game.

I used Hitran on the map only twice: against Mutare Drake (many dragons and ranged attackers - killed by burning titans and fairy dragons and then attacked), and Tazar (with stats 99/99 and ability, he cannot be killed at all), whom I lured under the castle and then Zidar tricked him a couple of times with Armageddon's Blade.

A few screenshots with the final bosses.

By the way, an interesting fact: there was 1 or 2 battles in which the autobattle won with large losses, but when replaying manually, I couldn’t win at all! :) I had to postpone the battle for 1-2 weeks.

In general, this map is very difficult and requires a detailed plan for the game; otherwise, we will simply be defeated. I really liked the map and can confidently give it a 10 out of 10. This is exactly what I expected from a Chinese map – dynamics, food for thought, an open world.

kolotok, congratulations, you managed to conquer a challenging map!

Here is a link to a thread on a Chinese forum.

I wonder if there will be any map that the local community won't be able to handle?

Added 5 minutes later
Regarding my question about removing the sphere of prohibition from Jelu in FB 2.5, I found the following discouraging information in Fizmig:

"The AI hero does not use artifacts obtained from Dragon Utopias or obtained after defeating another hero if that slot is already occupied by another artifact, even one of lesser value. Such artifacts are simply placed in the backpack."

"The AI hero does not use artifacts obtained from Dragon Utopias or received after defeating another hero if that slot is already occupied by another artifact, even if it is of lesser value. Such artifacts are simply placed in the backpack."

Interesting information. What if you try to give artifacts to a weaker hero, and he can pass them on to Jell?)

I'll take a look. Before this, I was only testing the exchange of artifacts between AI heroes after merging Jelu's artifacts.

kolotok, congratulations, you managed to conquer a challenging map!

Here is a link to a topic on a Chinese forum.

I wonder if there will ever be a map that the local community won't be able to handle?

Thank you for the link. The map is originally called 暗黑者, which translates to Dark Man.
There isn't much informative discussion there, but the author's map is compared to the maps of another creator - WOXIN (as I noted earlier). So, I already have some experience with similar maps.
For the future, to make it easier to search, it's better to write the name in Chinese right away.

Here I found a Walkthrough, for those who are interested, please https://tieba.baidu.com/p/4801068420?share=9105&fr=share&see_lz=0&red_tag=0794027264

I also Downloaded 4 more maps by the same author, but I don't even know when I'll get to them. It seems that they are all tempo-based.

Interesting information. What if you try to transfer artifacts to the Loshk, and he can pass them on to Jelu?

It worked.

Jelu discarded the sniper bow and the red orb. In return, he took the book of air, the well of the magician, and the medal of vulnerability. So, that's how it works.

Added after 57 seconds

Here, I found a walkthrough, for those who are interested: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/4801068420?share=9105&fr=share&see_lz=0&red_tag=0794027264

Wow, a walkthrough in 4 months.

Added 57 seconds ago
[/U]
Wow, a walkthrough completed in 4 months.

I've watched half of this walkthrough. It's a rare occurrence on this map that all heroes find themselves in different locations but still interact with each other (by visiting tents, killing enemies, obtaining spells, etc.). Also, in the walkthrough you linked, it's clear that everything is very carefully planned: where to go, how to divide the army's forces and between whom, what forces to transfer to whom so that they can handle tasks simultaneously in different locations, what to buy so that everything is sufficient. It's somewhat reminiscent of a walkthrough for a classic console game with its Meta-taxer. I can't even imagine how much time was spent planning the Diablo map walkthrough in that link...
Overall, in the first week, I did almost everything correctly, only with Luna, and partially with Zydar. Then, my Zydar also defeated Fafnir correctly, but a couple of days later than in the author's walkthrough. But with Orrin and the snow spawn, I did things differently (I captured a neutral tower instead of capturing the built tower of the blue company), hence the failure of 1/3 of the plan, a change in the route, and a delay in the game overall.
In general, there is, of course, a frantic pace, and that's why everything seems so easy. I didn't figure out the author's fast plan, chose slightly different directions and the order of capturing objects, and therefore encountered delays in the walkthrough. It should be noted that I did a couple of battles better in the first 3 weeks (at least, take the battle of our ifrits and djinns with Fafnir, where I lost 3 times fewer valuable ifrits, or the battles on Ain in the first days, where I passed almost without losses).
The map was enjoyable, but I definitely won't repeat its walkthrough :)

Jelu discarded the sniper bow and the red orb. In return, he took the book of air, the wizard's well, and the vulnerability medal. So, that's how it works.

I wasn't even doubting that there was a way:cool:

Genre: RPG.
Language: English.
Plot: Ukko, a great barbarian (pagan) who has lost everything, wakes up in a small island in an unknown land; a land full of unmatched perils and puzzles... Can you survive this tale? Can you beat the impossible odds? If so, consider yourself a true master of Heroes of Might and Magic 3!!
Before us is a linear RPG map, whose author was clearly inspired by "Wayfarer". Unfortunately, the map falls short of "Wayfarer" both in terms of combat difficulty and the interest of its "logistical" puzzles. However, it can still be completed once and even provide some enjoyment. Almost the entire map is played relaxedly, with only a few spots requiring relative effort.

Moderate difficulty allows most players to complete the map.
The linearity of the map is not overly rigid; often from one location you can move forward in one direction or another, and later return and go the other way.
Lack of timing: only one quest has a deadline, which we will complete on the 4th day of the game.
You almost never have to stall at any stage due to the need to accumulate resources or troops. The number and strength of opposing heroes and monsters grow gradually and are quite reasonable.
There are practically no optional quests, unlike some other good maps. Everything is strictly logical and you won't get confused.
There are interesting puzzles in the spirit of "Wayfarer": how to take a necessary item, how to reach a certain place, etc.
Ukko's resurrection is obtained quite quickly.

Because distances are large, the Town Portal is unavailable for a long time*, mana is scarce and runs out quickly, there are few wells, the Captain's Hat must be given to the guard, boarding/disembarking from boats is frequent, there are few heroes, everything takes a lot of time and the overall pace of the game is quite slow. To fix this, it would be desirable for the player to have 2-3 helper heroes soon to collect troops from towns. When Oris and Gunnar help the main character, things go much better.
(* Ukko will only receive the Town Portal during the clash with the 4th enemy race, Inferno. This is due to the author's design, so that one escapes the trap only after obtaining the Tome of Earth Magic)
The same flaw is clearly evident at the stage when you visit the brown tent: after this, it is necessary to destroy the pegasi standing very close by, but you have to take a huge detour to reach them and then return the same way. Yet it would have been enough just to place brown gates or a guard on the shore to handle it in one day and save a lot of time!
Unlike other maps with linear progression, there are situations here where you might miss something but find out very late; by the time it becomes clear, you must return quite far and lose a lot of time.
Extensive empty territories in the dungeon allow some who wish to play dishonestly: after receiving the Tome of Air Magic, one can choose not to give it to the seer, but return through these lands using Dimension Door. Furthermore, one can skip almost all quests and avoid fighting several enemies, especially since the victory condition is the capture of a specific Castle. The victory condition could have been left as standard and all unnecessary lands removed, replacing them with void.
There are moments that can be called "cheap shots": if you don't know about them, you might make a mistake that forces you to later replay the progression of a certain section of the path. I will write about them below in the tips.
Neither on the swamps, nor on the necrolands, nor near the Confluxes is there a Magic Spring that doubles mana, yet a barbarian without intelligence most often lacks it.
At the beginning of the 17th month, the Pink AI opponent experiences gold overflow, causing it to go negative, which prevents them from hiring more troops. However, this is insignificant as almost all main enemy heroes have fixed armies. But this could have been prevented by making Treasuries in 1-2 Ramparts unavailable.
At sea, we find 1 wizard behind a guard who requires bringing peasants. However, there is a wizard dwelling in another place (it is well hidden), so freeing this particular wizard is not mandatory. This is a minor detail, but simply illogical.
Why do we have a scholar giving Air Sight two steps from the finale? There is no longer any use for it.
I discovered an error: the shipyard south of the red tent is positioned such that it is impossible to build a boat on it. Fortunately, this creates no problems as Ukko and Oris have Boat Call.

There are no taverns on the map, and each of our 3 heroes performs plot-necessary tasks, so no one can be lost!
Most preferred skills for the main character (after those that will be given anyway): it is desirable to get fire magic, marksmanship (we have 2 stacks of archers and soon Ukko will have 2 artifacts that increase accuracy). Tactics will be very valuable, and ballistics during town assaults. Intelligence will be useful, especially in the first months. Air magic can also be useful, but one can manage without it.
In the vicinity of the 2nd Stronghold, you will get an angel and wyverns. Remember: 1 angel and 4 wyverns must soon be given to the seer for the very valuable Forgetfulness spell, so these creatures must not be lost or upgraded!
After freeing Oris, do not rush to teach her or give her arbitrary secondary skills! She must first receive a series of skills in the event behind the red gates, and then learn expert literacy from the seer.
Gunnar's skills play a less important role (he won't have to fight). It is good if he learns earth magic (this can be done at the Conflux).
Rashka should only be fought while having both a phoenix and Berserk.
If you encounter difficulties, a recording of the map walkthrough stream by a player named Glenn may help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdxxhuO2mp8

On 8-1-4, passing through the monolith, I ended up in the swamp lands.
On 8-1-6, Ukko besieged the Fortress where Bron was staying. This was the first fight with an enemy hero.
On 8-3-2 I beat Gervulf, and Blue disappeared.
On 9-4-2 I captured the hated Necropolis that covered the surroundings in darkness.
On 10-2-1 I beat Moandor. Unfortunately, losses were quite high. After replaying the fight many times, I finally settled on a version where I lost almost half of the orcs and some high-level creatures. Brown disappeared.
On 12-1-3 I removed the brown guard in the south and invaded Green (Conflux).
The fight with Inteus went with single losses, and on 12-2-4 Green disappeared.
On 12-4-1 Ukko reached the dendroids and defeated them; the next day he destroyed the pegasi.
On 13-2-3 I landed on Orange's lands (Inferno).
On 14-4-3 Ukko beat Rashka. The fight had a catch: this enemy has a Clairvoyance Charm. I had to replay many times due to the damage variance of archdevils until I got lucky and lost only 9 monsters and 1 dragonfly. Immediately after, I entered the 3rd Inferno, and Orange disappeared.
After victory over Orange, I studied the map for a long time to understand where to go next. I was almost ready to ask those who completed the map, when I spotted a cell on the very western edge of "Antarctica", which I reached by water from the black market.
On 15-1-2 I captured the Tower guarded by nagas. There were no losses as the berserker did almost everything. I immediately built a watchtower there to open my path further.
On 15-1-5 I destroyed the ifrits guarding the obelisk. With a phoenix, single dragonflies and 1466 cyclops, this proved easy and without losses.
On 15-2-1 I dug up the Grail.
On 15-3-5 I broke through the anti-magic garrison on the border of the same snow lands in the dungeon. Of course, losses were inevitable here; I replayed to optimize them.
On 15-4-4 I gave 3 artifacts to the seer for a Town Portal and took the Sphere of Air.
On 17-1-3 Ukko beat 24.5 thousand titans in an ambush before the red gates, moving from lava into "Antarctica". Thanks to the Sphere of Vulnerability and Cursed Armor, it was possible to conduct the fight without losses.
On 17-1-4 the game suddenly reported: "Warning! AI player has -2 147 470 449 gold". This means that one of the remaining enemies (Pink) experienced overflow and can no longer hire troops. As it turned out, even enabling the SOD_SP plugin and replaying the turn transition did not help avoid this event. But this will not hinder further play.
On 17-2-6 I took the last Tower, and Purple disappeared.
A surprise awaited me in the Tower: 1330 titans and hundreds of weaker creatures available for hire! Having gathered enough resources, I hired 800 titans.
The Rampart heroes (belonging to Pink) were defeated and the Ramparts themselves captured without effort.
The Dungeon heroes were beaten easily; only Shakti did Ukko defeat on the 2nd attempt: in the first, low morale interfered, and losses were too great.
On 18-1-4 Ukko captured the 3rd Dungeon, and Turquoise disappeared.
Taking the Castle in the dungeon, guarded by wizards and griffins, went without losses. A Colossus is already in the Castle, boosting morale, which is very convenient, and there Ukko also learned Prayer and Clone.
On 18-3-1 I took all parts and assembled the Alliance of Angels.
Passing into the penultimate zone and beating 4000 azure dragons, I decided not to give away the Sphere of Vulnerability to take creatures from the garrison: it will still be needed! Moreover, assessing the troops and artifacts of Lord of Light and the garrison of the last Castle, I decided not to give the Sphere at all: it is the only one on the map.
On 18-3-5 Ukko took a second Alliance of Angels from the guards (the first was given to the guard). This was managed without losses.
Tried to take a second set of Cursed Armor. Alas, due to cursed land and the number of undead, this is too costly, so I will not take them, especially since it's impossible to wear both the Alliance and the Armor at once, and wearing the Alliance in the remaining battles is mandatory.
On 18-3-6 I beat the black dragons waiting for me behind the Dungeons and visited the purple tent.
On 18-4-2 I beat Lord of Light without trading the Sphere of Vulnerability for additional troops: the enemy's Courage Charm would not have let me use either Berserk or Blindness, and I couldn't think of how to beat him without those. There wasn't enough mana to resurrect all who fell, so I lost 680 monsters (1224 remained).
After the fight, I joined 500 azure dragons waiting behind the Castle.
On 18-4-6 Ukko, visiting a nearby well, stormed Dunwol, and I was congratulated on victory. Of course, if there had been more mana, losses would have been fewer. But I didn't want to prolong the walkthrough even further by returning to double my mana.
Result: 503 days, 418 points.
Finally, questions for those who completed the map (and those who will later):
1. What is the secret to the fight with Rashka? The author never revealed what his design was.
2. Did you give away the Sphere of Vulnerability for additional troops? If so, how did you beat Lord of Light and how did you capture Pink's Castle without the Sphere?
3. Did you take the second Cursed Armor? How and with what losses?
4. Question to kolotok: you admitted that you cheated with the Tome of Air. In the finale, did you beat Lord of Light, since taking the capital is enough for victory?