Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

What losses in mana/troops are considered acceptable? It will be difficult to keep the units alive. To do this, you need to play out a sequence of good casts. I found a fairly stable combination of slow + prayer, and that's what I'm playing with. But I also need a shield to appear in the next cast of the genie.

In the first successful attempts, all enchanters and 30 archdevils are preserved.

Yes, this battle can be passed normally; it's just that the first attempts were not very good. Acceptable losses are to keep the archons and enchanters alive + have some mana left for a couple of teleports.
Well, I also made a mistake by not taking the cart, plus two shots from the enchanters would have been helpful.

Added 1 minute ago

Did you ever play through the entire game for ознакомительных целей? Or is that the point - if you play through the entire game, even for ознакомительных целей, it will create a sense of completion and reduce motivation for a super-fast attempt?

Exactly

I'm also waiting for Paragon 3.0. Rinse is great for delaying it as much as he can...)

Thank you, I'm trying. :o
But seriously, I'm sometimes afraid to visit this forum, the map page, and other resources related to Heroes because of the 27 deadlines I've set and missed myself.

(unless I come up with a way to beat it without save-loading, which is unlikely and not soon)

So, without save-loading and without major bugs? Like the Admiral's Hat.

Acceptable losses - save the Archons and Enchantresses + a little mana for a couple of Teleports.

I tried options with saving mana for 3-4 Teleports, but I can't manage to properly deal with the enemy troops after 7 casts of Sands. The AI chooses the stack of Enchantresses (even a weakened one) as the highest priority compared to a stack of 30 Archdevils. I tried hiding them behind the enemy tent with one Archdevil/Djinn (-14 mana), but even then, it continues to target them. This means that I will have to look for an option with a larger number of Sands, which means a greater mana cost. I will try to block it with a Lesser Imp, although I won't be surprised if it attacks him too.

And of course, I messed up by not taking the cart, plus the Enchantresses would have had two shots.

The shots are good. I found a fairly stable combination of Oil + Shield in the early turns + it is necessary to cast Frenzy next. This is enough to quickly immobilize the archers and kill the Devils + Ifrits (Bless + Frenzy + Blindness) while saving several shots, I don't remember exactly how many.

The problem is that I have to fight through a lot of randomness, and at different stages of the 300+ round battle, which results in a lot of wasted time.

Randomness stage by stage: 1. Cast Oil + Shield - this is found relatively quickly because it's 1 round of battle.

2. Cast Frenzy - this is difficult to find, this is the main problem of the first stage. You can also use Fire Shield instead of Frenzy, but as practice shows, the first one is much better.

3. After Frenzy, we recover mana - we skip 4 turns and cast Dispel. Exactly 4 turns, not 3 (this is another difference from the battle with Rose and Dandy). The Ogres may not attack us for 4 turns, but the chance that they will attack is quite significant. Many good attempts end here. There may also be a case where the AI has 3 mana left for Teleport, but fortunately, this happens quite rarely.

4. After recovering mana, we wait for Bless to appear, from which we cast Blindness + Frenzy. We rely on good randomness so that Bless appears as often as possible, this depends on how much mana will be spent on recasting Blindness.

5. The Ifrits and Devils are killed. The next randomness is to cast the required number of Sands and destroy the AI. This is the main problem, given the AI's love for Enchantresses. So far, all good attempts have ended here.

I will try with a larger number of Sands, but given how many things need to coincide, I don't know how long this will take:D

other resources related to Heroes due to 27 missed deadlines, which I set myself.

There were only assumptions, not specific deadlines, like, maybe at the end (of last) year if I can, or something like that. And there shouldn't be any consequences for that. I just need to explain this to everyone else

Hello, Heroes fans! I stumbled upon this topic on the internet while searching for new maps to play and learned a lot of interesting information about walkthroughs of custom maps. I would like to share my impressions and a small addition to the review of the Chinese map "Road to Destruction" by "kolotok".
////// I would rate the map 8.5 out of 10.

Due to a total lack of time, I haven't played any custom maps for probably 2-3 months now.
I assume that some interesting maps may have appeared on Gamerhome in the last six months. If I have a couple of free days closer to May, I will browse Gamerhome, try to choose something interesting to play, and then publish it.

I have a question for the community regarding the hat bug. Whether intentionally or not, at least in one place – before the island with Kirra – Dundee used it. Removing the hat and then putting it back on using the hero exchange window gives a significant boost to mana points. I am currently replaying the game from scratch to avoid artificially inflating mana points to 116 when I need to get Dessa across the strait and then through all the battles, and ultimately set her to 117 at the pond near the golems.
Is this an acceptable bug or a legitimate feature, similar to boarding a boat with slow units and then removing them?

Added 12 minutes later
In previous attempts, I used this bug without hesitation. But then I noticed that after capturing the 141st castle on the water, after applying this trick twice, the Lich's mana points increase to 7k (and there is basically no limit). This seems like an artificial inflation due to bugs, so I decided to replay the game from the beginning without it, since I used this trick for Dessa at 116.

Added 6 minutes later
But even without this bug, the pace will be a little slower, and that's okay – it seems like I can get Golden Dragons at 141, which opens the way to Kirra and later to Sepello. At the expense of taking Inferno cities. But essentially, getting the Golden Dragons at 141 is more important, because otherwise, I would have to wait a week to get out of the starting area.

Is this an acceptable bug or a legitimate feature, similar to boarding a boat with slow units and then removing them?

Everyone decides for themselves how and according to what rules to play in single-player. Some don't hesitate to fire and hire heroes on the same day, restoring movement points and mana. Some use selling artifacts at inflated prices. Some use the Admiral's Hat, etc. There are no standards. The mapmaker should oversee this.

Personally, I always play according to the rules of offline tournaments, even for fun playthroughs. If you can't use the Admiral's Hat in a combined form, then you can't. I don't even like the idea of using this artifact in a combined form. But then again, there are some maps in which the Admiral's Hat plays a key role. Well, each person has to decide for themselves.

Nasos, use the game version where the hat bug has been fixed. And, of course, use the hat that has been assembled.
If possible, it's pointless to stick to rules invented by who knows who, created back when there was nothing that could be done about this bug.

However, sometimes the Admiral's Hat needs to be collected and used to complete the map: this was the case in the "Wayfarer" map, where you need to quickly pass by Rion, landing on the western shore on the same day and immediately boarding a boat on the east. And Rion can be killed later, after visiting the white tent and gathering all the necessary items. Such use of the Hat is not "something bad." It's a different matter to artificially inflate movement points just for the sake of a speedrun record. That's already unfair gameplay. I made an exception only once, on the "007 chases Dr No" map, because Bond cannot reach the Necropolis, where Isra is located, and continue further without air magic.

It's a different story when move points are artificially increased solely for the sake of setting a record for the fastest completion time. That's already unfair gameplay.

Unfairly increasing move points when a bug has been fixed is impossible. However, the ability to use the Hat for quick movement from a boat to the shore (or vice versa), as intended by the original mechanics, remains available to the player.

The key question is: is it fair or unfair to whom? To the computer in single-player Walkthroughs? In my opinion, the rule is simple: if there is a competitive element, then if the players are in the same conditions and use the same techniques, then everything is fair. In different Walkthrough conditions, they are generally incomparable. I also played offline Tournaments and on different resources (and even within the same Tournament but at different times) - these rules are contradictory. The version of these rules and their observance is a personal choice for everyone. I try to follow the rules of online (rather than offline) Tournaments, which means fixed bugs in HD+, infinite ballista shots, but I don't use the ability to buy back a fired hero for movement points and mana by default, although I do use scrolls - but they are not random :) Only if some interesting goal appears, and I immediately say about the used things. In fact, the use of the hat originated with RoseKavalier, and based on the above principle of equal opportunities, I also used it. In fact, RoseKavalier's interpretation of the use of the hat is quite unique, and I have not encountered such conditions anymore, so I have no doubt that few people support it. Therefore, the concept of legality is subjective. Regarding the unplanned accumulation of movement points before the island with Kirr - if you are comparing yourself to my Walkthrough, then you have the right to use the same things as I do. More specifically, in your situation, this is not necessary, because even if you capture Flax on Tuesday instead of Monday, you still have to wait for the increase from the Legion statue, and for the remaining available goals, there will be enough time until the end of the week.

Actually, the use of the hat originated with RoseKavalier, and based on the aforementioned principle of equal opportunities, I used it as well. In fact, RoseKavalier's interpretation of the hat's use is quite unique, and I haven't encountered such conditions since.

"The use" of the hat actually originated with NWC. RoseKavalier simply fixed a bug in full accordance with the artifact's description. Therefore, there is nothing unique about it, of course. And the word "interpretation" is not really appropriate here. Those who don't want to play a normal game with fixed bugs can interpret and invent 100500 rules.

Oh... you don't get it. I meant using the hat in the context of speedrunning the Metataxer's Revenge map. The golem trick was actually used by Rouzkavaler, and he later released a plugin that allows the hat to correctly recalculate movement points.
You should try playing this map – the deeper you get into the game, the more blurred the lines become between good and evil, that is, between features and bugs. From my point of view, statements like "normal gameplay" are a sign of a lack of knowledge/understanding of the game's mechanics.

Oh… you just don’t get it.
...
From my point of view, statements like “normal gameplay” are a sign of limited knowledge/understanding of the game mechanics.

Well, yes, it's so "limited" that I am involved in fixing bugs in the game /topic/14281/, just like RoseKavalier))). We actually fixed the hat bug together.
So where do I fit into this picture?)))

"Normal gameplay" is really gameplay where as many bugs as possible have been fixed, based on the description of the game and common sense. A game that crashes or behaves extremely illogically due to bugs is an "abnormal" game. Therefore, I don't understand how you connect such statements with a poor understanding of the game :)

One doesn't contradict the other. These bugs have been described in the physics engine for quite some time. How extensive is your knowledge of the game mechanics beyond the physics engine?

One doesn't contradict the other.
These bugs have been described in the physics engine for quite some time. How extensive is your knowledge of the game's mechanics beyond the physics engine?

I've been studying the game at the software code level for quite some time (a couple of years), and I'm writing my own code. Before that, I just played the game, practically since its release. If we're talking about the physics engine, I periodically communicate with the author of the physics engine and provide him with various new insights about the game's inner workings.