Posts from Demon invasion. Auto-translated

where should I leave my troops on the 3rd map? They are all mixed up – I have diplomacy. What is going on??? You can place them in garrisons, but you can't take them out. All castles are blocked by "allies." After returning to Shio and the Necropolis castle, there is no way forward. The garrison is impenetrable.

Where should I leave my troops on the 3rd map? They are all mixed up – I have diplomacy. What the heck is going on? You can place them in garrisons, but you can't take them out. All the Castles are blocked by "allies." After getting back to Shio and into the Necropolis Castle, there's no way out. The garrison is impenetrable.

Talk to Kha-Beleth first, and then talk to the Mentor; then it will be clear how to get out. If you need to drop something, there seems to be one unoccupied mine behind the portal near the top Castle, which is guarded by manticores.

The fourth map is definitely tough, even compared to the others. First of all, there's no way to reroll the starting layout because all the battles are roughly like this: , . Therefore, on each reload, I added experience using cheats to understand what they would offer. In the best possible layout, I quickly got the ranged attack skill – I captured the mercury mine on day 6 and the boots after a couple of attempts on day 9. Then I got the building plan on level 13 – the minimum plan is complete. Then I checked – they will offer many good things – light, dark, attack, crafting. And I still need logistics... Ideally, all of this is great, especially considering the Mentor's guard. I'm leaning more towards dark magic + crafting, and then, together with the machines, I'll switch the rest. But remembering the guard of Sandro's cloak, without which the Mentor cannot be defeated (ghosts + necrodragons), a storm would be very useful here. Should I give up on logistics and go for machines/defense/light/dark/crafting instead, especially since I have both pairs of boots on the map. I've never managed to develop a normal strategy for this map in all my previous playthroughs; I've always managed to win based on some random layouts.

there is a passage, actually)

I used to write about it and always used it :)
After defeating the first garrison, you need to select 7 Imps individually and fill it - the garrison will become vulnerable :) you can use it to deploy troops. If you don't do this after the first capture, you can forget about it - both the deployment location and the buffs for the final castle (there's an idol), and the free passage to the Necropolis. Moreover, after the orange player gets upset, he still won't be able to attack the garrison, and if the Manticores don't break through, this will be a retreat route and a place to capture the castle.

There's also a gold mine there (or an abandoned gold mine), guarded by Death Knights, but there are a lot of them on the hero (they don't get killed right away).

Added 23 minutes ago
You can't give up Logistics on level 4, because the map is large, the corners won't be explored, and enemies that have passed through the garrison won't be killed, and the zeroing radius will decrease, and the likelihood that they will break through the second city increases, so it's better to give up Magic.

Only the general slowdown/weakness effect is useful from Black Magic (or SA, which you can't go for initially, because they will kill you long before you get it), and Light only gives a general speed boost and Storm Wind.

I don't have enough general slowdown, but unfortunately, while the Demon melee unit is using the Sign. + Sudden Attack (haven't gotten it yet, but it will be soon) can keep the hero busy.

After the first replay, I got this (a week of alliance dropped):

https://c2n.me/406l8xz
all demonic skills and https://c2n.me/406lcAG
https://c2n.me/406leFl (battles with enemies in the hat, the cloak is nearby, but the hero was busy with enemies, now he's coming and will take it - it will be a Knight set)

Small map control - https://c2n.me/406lido (the space under the castle has been cleared, except for the Fires and Phoenixes, on the other side, only scouting is being done and only slightly cleared around the castle (the gem mine and the obelisk), + a little bit to the Machine Ring)

Reached the Machine Ring, took it, the rivals forced me to return. Here's an unclaimed Orc Shield https://clip2net.com/s/406llZp, I didn't have enough movement points to pick it up - I had to jump into the city - but I don't need the shield itself, because I have the Blade and Ice Shield (from the mages).

In general, the week of alliance gave me a boost, but it helped more to build new buildings. The Elf has 13 gold (=emerald dragons, just the color has been changed), I don't want to deal with their devilish chains :)

The Orc warrior caused problems, but here it seems like nothing special - I've already defeated several rivals, they came, left, and promised to return :)

This is a replay, after the ballista didn't work out the first time, it worked out the second time, but not right away.

In general, it would be nice to allocate a cell for Phantom - but the probability of Phantom in the 1st Demon Castle is EXTREMELY LOW :)

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I have an idea to take Eagle and Herbalism after Mentor and steal Phantom from the Mage, but I'll probably take SA, it's really needed here. Mages/Dragons don't give spells here, let's not forget :)

Added 28 minutes ago
although, forget about SA without BDP (you can't sacrifice Mentor, first I'll level up the heroes, then I'll change the defense to Darkness, when they will be able to defeat everyone and everything.

And the walkthrough is probably to first get Machines/BDP/Logistics/and preferably Mentor (if possible), collect artifacts and level up the assistants.
Magic, perhaps, is Chaos - to break the catapult, or Herbalism/Summoning - if you're lucky with Phantom, but the chances are small, instead of attack

So far, I’ve managed to get both Light and Darkness, and I’ll be trying to get the last one in the final slot. I’m doing pretty well; by the end of week 3, I’ve acquired the Ring of Initiation, the Lion’s Cloak, and the Portal Scroll. Now I’m going to try to get the Boots and the Necromancer’s Amulet. I also got a Mass Slow spell, which works well in combination with the Ballista and the BDP (Ballistic Defense Platform). I also have Acceleration; I’ll see what else I can get from the castles. If it goes well, I’ll only need to swap out the Machines for a conditional attack on the Mentor, and I’ll have some extra money left over. Then, I’ll have to rely on getting good Darkness in the Human castles…

Gerter
Thanks, but I already found it right at the entrance to Shio. I cleared out 100 Death Knights – there’s a gold mine behind them. I defeated the Manticores, but I didn’t go through the portal – I’m going there now. The toughest guard is at the cartographer’s – with EWA, I have tons of Fire and, most importantly, Energy Elementals there (these guys are immune to both fire and air, so neither Wave nor Chain works). He himself is on Darkness – it’s tough.
P.S. I can’t start with the other demons (I’ve defeated all the standard creatures – all that’s left are impenetrable tanks, various Storm Elementals, Yetis, etc.) – I just have to sit and sit and build up my troops.

based on the screenshot, you made one mistake :)
you spared 7 Imps individually for the garrison (but this is due to a lack of experience), and this mistake could have been very significant for the hero (Manticoras might not be killed on the hero, and then you simply won't have anywhere to hide), and the Fire Elementals, well, they are invulnerable to the hero, and for a beginner, slowing them down + a Crystal/Portal + a Bow + Succubi can help. Or a Machine + regeneration on a level 7 creature. And also a Tent.

However, if you think about it, if you can't defeat the Manticore on the hero, you won't have access to Utopia (gold, artifacts, spells), and then battles with demons will be almost impossible.
(but in general, level 2 is very difficult, especially where there are 4 demons, level 4 of the campaign will be easier)

Added after 23 minutes
it's strange that your garrisons are invulnerable; both blue garrisons were killed in my game (one with 7 Imps, and even 7 Skeletons), and also the Astral Dragons guarding the +20 speed ring for the Necropolis.

In ShoM there is a cool trick - you level up/mentor the image with a scholar and learn all of darkness from allied demons. After that, manticoras for a couple or three berserkers:) I also found a couple of spots where demons won't pursue - at Kha-Beleh's Stronghold and behind the passage where death knights stand. But going for manticoras is the best - it's easy to intercept the Castle and there's also a well there, so you can constantly summon troops from Hrottar.

In 4, the 3rd month is coming to an end - I'm dominating in all Articles. In the first 5 weeks using bdp, slow, and ballista, I pushed left to the very end where the mine with bears on guard is; only dwarf/mage armies and phoenixes with dragons are left , . I wiped out the first enemies during retreats, it was harder with the orc, he had already brought a dozen and a half cyclops by that stage. In terms of losses at this stage, only imps; other troops waited for ransom in both castles. I quickly managed to build up horses + a couple who joined; in the 2nd month, a hundred horses became the main stack. I broke through to the mentor somewhere in the middle of the 3rd month , dropped machines and defense, took attack with image + eagle, although so far I've only learned punishing from witches; no idea where to get scatter, it hasn't dropped anywhere. Now, essentially, I've broken through almost everything useful on my territory; got shield, greaves, and dragon cloak + ring + sword from the dragon packs from drowns/mages. Took three dwarf artifacts, ring and staff of init too. Only didn't break Sar-Issa's artifacts, but only the staff there will be useful against Duncan, and he is in another place. On the second wave of enemies I wiped out the elf ; Ellaina with a force of ~2 hundred horses preferred to flee when half of that army fell without losses on my side. I'm currently flying via portal away from the mage and orc, I don't want to fight them in the open field, they don't attack in the castle. Maybe I won't even hit them, I'll gather every possible army and go storm the humans - decent darkness in the last castle + Sar-Issa's staff = easy Duncan, hope I get lucky.

Image + subjugation in the last castle, well that's normal. Still no scatter - that's a problem, but it seems I wiped out almost all of Vitka's shooters in the very 1st battle; Duncan has crossbows, which isn't as dangerous, but I still need to swing by the library, maybe berserk will drop.

Alastor appears frequently in the tavern; you can often find him there.

Added 1 hour 19 minutes ago
2nd month, 3rd week, end. Week of Glory. I was greedy and went to fight higher-level opponents, which prevented me from subduing a very strong knight before he attacked my capital. I defended the capital with 45 mana, but since there's no teleport, mana doesn't matter. Before that, I grabbed the Necromancer's Cloak, the Ring of the Spirit, and gained experience. I bought Marbas before the Castle to remove the accumulated buffs (at least -1 Spirit and -2-3 Luck). https://c2n.me/4084ESc Here's the battle result – the price for the experience during the Week of Glory. However, I don't think it was in vain; I still have 29 steeds and 286 demons, and the week is ending. This is the first fair fight with my full, undamaged army. If all battles were like this, we would have won long ago. The knight has Subdue and Berserk; if he had Darkness and Eagle, I could have taken them. Below are the artifacts the knight brought with him, and the ones my units were equipped with for the battle. https://clip2net.com/s/4084J0h

So, I'm not sure how I'll gather 100 steeds by the beginning of next month. In the first Castle, I have everything; in the second, I have the Castle, and creatures of levels 1, 2, 5, and 7, but not many of the latter.

However, in comparison, I lost a small army, but it wasn't very large to begin with. The knight's losses: * 17 Archangels * 24 Red Angels * 53 Red Steeds * 161 Red Griffins * 368 Red Swordsmen * 573 Red Archers

My losses are significant only in Archdemons: -9. The rest are just a pity, but there's only a growth of 1 to 2. I reached level 30 and was offered a choice between Marauder or Navigation; this means that until I get a mentor, my hero will only use the Slow and Weaken skills, which have zero expertise.

people. Where is the Fortress on the hill on map 4? I cleared the entire underground level and didn't see it... or is it on the surface?

On map 4, is that where the orcs are? There's a fort on the surface in the brown orc's lands.

Alastor flashes by in the tavern often; you can get it from him

Yes, I forgot about him (as usual :)), he served as bait for the orc right at the beginning(

I joined 2 (or even 3) stacks of horses (1 on the way to the left, where the Inferno outpost is, a second by the 2nd Castle, where the necrodragons are), that's almost 20 + I think brought about 12-15 from the dwell + built some in both Castles around week 3; by the end of month 2, there were about a hundred. I only built level 7s in one Castle and at the very end, didn't even buy them out in the end. Imho, they aren't needed, especially since the AI always hits them when it runs out of mana, and then there's an elf with Death Strike, plus an orc with Krag's special...

Finished in 4.5 months (stats), could be faster, I ran through all the upgrades. Dispel fell from the Temple in the humans' lands; bought Divine Wrath, Berserk, and Resurrection in the library . Beat Vitka without problems and Ellayne with almost the same army. Didn't manage to intercept the orc and he destroyed 1 of my Castles and died in the process; took out the mage and elf also without much effort. The mage has a bug - she always tried to cast Phantom on golems (if the console is to be believed), which triggered an error and left her with 15k mana for the whole fight. Imps are outraged :) . And Duncan - , could have played better, but I gave up.

On the 4th map, is that where the Orcs are? There's a Fortress on the surface, in the lands of the brown Orc.

Thanks, bro. Good to know where to go – it's tough enough as it is.

thanks bro. It's good to know where to push through - it's tough enough as it is.

yes, in the map with Orcs, I assume it will be really tough with EWA) almost all the neutrals are randomly placed.

yes, in the Orc map, I suspect there will be some serious challenges with EWA. Almost all neutral creatures are randomly placed.

Yeah, with EWA, this map makes playing as a Warrior feel like playing as a Hero. One step forward, two steps back (you look at the battlefield and almost immediately need to reload). The difficulty lies in planning battles. It's hard to adapt; there's always some modified unit with a ton of resistances, moving 20 tiles, attacking with fear, having infinite retaliation, double attack, and a storm strike (just kidding))). When you think you've prepared for everything. I haven't even learned all of them yet (alternative creatures).
In the process, I realized that with EWA, you can beat this campaign even on Veteran difficulty, but I definitely won't be able to overcome some guarded objectives, and that's not what I'm interested in (I play until the map is completely cleared, not just to win... winning a mission doesn't bring satisfaction if something is left undefeated).
And Master made the map too difficult – it's not a game, it's a test. But I can't play without the mod anymore – it's like you've always played on Hero difficulty and suddenly you're on Recruit... it's just not interesting anymore.:smile14:

I thought it was really tough before. The Orcs were useless... In the 5th scenario (snow), each guard unit consists of at least 2-3 stacks of various creatures, or even a full army. Heh.
I cleared the mines and that's it... I need to break through to the second castle and combine the armies - there's nothing to do around the first one (the guards are strong) - almost everyone gives a beating. Although, if you wait a week...
P.S. The mentor's guard is awesome!

a mentor near the garrison next to the 2nd demon city; a fortress is only available in human lands.