Posts from Blue crystal

I finally completed your map. The final battle was a bit complex, but it was fun and not too difficult. I played as a Necromancer – Lucretia. When I had a critical mass of vampires (~40), I cleared the map using only them, even cutting down enemies without any losses at the beginning. My build focused on darkness, light (I just wanted to buff my units), and I took “Freezing Wind” for defense. It was very effective against creating phantoms. I killed them all later (the last one was just a gnome with elemental dragons, which vampires can’t drain, so I had to develop summoning instead of light at the mentor). This took about 5 months; the rest of the time, I scouted the map and completed the first and last quests, which involved passing through a wall. Towards the end, I defeated all the guardians without much difficulty. The earth guardian against Banshees, skeletons, and zombies was easily defeated. The air guardian against ghosts, vampires, and dragons also wasn’t a problem. I started having problems with the water guardian – I only had liches among my casters, so I split a hundred liches into two stacks of 50 and also passed it without much difficulty. I had to work hard against the fire guardian because my remaining ranged units – the liches – died from the initial fireball. I had to fight the fire guardian with all my might. I lost again; his fireballs were too painful. I looked to see what could protect me… Reflection, magic resistance, undead protection from magic, and some other skill in chaos. Oh, and 50% fire resistance in light. Well, I had to go back to light; thanks for the mentor <3 In the end, I defeated the fire guardian this time, losing everyone except the vampires.
Overall: I enjoyed it. Because I lowered the difficulty to normal, the difficulty really became normal. As it should be. I also like your approach – you can play as anyone, for anyone. This is valuable and gives the map replayability. I hope the green or yellow crystal is already in development!

I finally completed your map. The final battle is intricate, but it’s fun and not too difficult. I played as the Necromancer – Lucretia. When I accumulated a critical mass of vampires (~40), I cleared the map using only them, even cutting down enemies without losses at the beginning. My build focused on darkness, light (I just wanted to buff my units), and I took Frost Nova for defense. It countered the creation of phantoms very well. I killed them all later (the last one was just a gnome with dragon elementals, which vampires can’t drain, so I had to develop summoning instead of light with the mentor). This took about 5 months; the rest of the time, I scouted the map and completed the first and last quests, which involved passing through a wall. In the end, I defeated all the guardians without much difficulty. I easily defeated the Earth guardian against Banshees, skeletons, and zombies. The Air guardian against Ghosts, Vampires, and dragons also wasn’t a problem. Problems started with the Water guardian – I only had liches among my casters, so I split a hundred liches into 2 stacks of 50 and also passed it without much difficulty. I had to work hard against the Fire guardian because my remaining archers – the same liches – died from the initial fireball. I had to fight the Fire guardian with all my might. I lost again; his fireballs are too painful. I looked to see what could protect me... Reflection, magic resistance, undead protection from magic, and some other ability in chaos. Ah, and 50% fire resistance in light. Well, I had to go back to light; thanks for the mentor <3 In the end, I passed the Fire guardian this time, losing everyone except the vampires.
Overall: I liked it. Because I lowered the difficulty to normal, the difficulty really became normal. As it should be. I also like your approach – you can play as anyone, for anyone. This is valuable and gives the map replayability. I hope the green or yellow crystal is already in development!

Thank you for the feedback.
Yes, I tried to make the map replayable, but because any race can be used, there are a lot of complications.
I’m taking a break from mapmaking for now.
P.S. The remaining 2 colors have been guessed correctly.

I replayed with Necromancers (Vlad), completed the map in 109 days (received a black dragon). I completed it with almost no losses, except for the Fire Guardian. I fought him for a long time and it was tedious – he’s an incredibly overpowered character (insane initiative and incredibly powerful chaos magic). In the development of the main hero, I refused to take “Banshee’s Cry” and instead focused on “Mind Control” and “Keen Intellect.” In my opinion, the general debuffs of scattering, slowing, and starting the battle with the main hero defending the castle are more effective than letting enemy troops skip their turn due to low morale (plus, the main hero learned several useful spells from the enemies, for example, Phantom). I should mention that this trick doesn’t work on the guardians (almost nothing affects them). Thanks again to the author for the interesting map.

Please understand me correctly. Your maps are among the best, but they are too complex, and their initial versions are usually "unplayable." This is because, in my opinion, the author overcomplicates them, especially regarding the size of enemy armies. Often, the player is forced not only to exist within the circumstances proposed by the author but also to act according to a predetermined algorithm, which to some extent limits the freedom of choice, and this is not good. A reasonable balance between the logic of the scenario and the player's improvisation is what should be strived for. I wish the author creative success.

P.S. It's frustrating that only a few mapmakers create complex maps (out of a pile of mediocre ones), and they are constantly criticized. Let's not do that – pew-pew – everyone falls.

I started playing on "Hero" difficulty with the Castle faction, version from 29.12, but it didn't work out. I entered the Castle through the open gate, and the artifacts I found were completely useless. There was no magic resistance. The first enemy to reach me was a Sorcerer with magic skill 18, and he wiped out all my archers. The next day, a Dwarf and a Demon left my army with only one unit remaining. As soon as I gathered a new army, it all happened again. I didn't continue playing because there was no development, and I would be defeated.
I restarted on "Veteran" difficulty. As if by magic, everything changed. I entered the Castle through a teleport, and right next to the Castle were parts of the "Archer's Dream" artifact. The first enemy to approach was a Demon. I met him in the Castle, and immediately the main hero went to destroy the Demon outpost. In a nearby area, I found the "Ring of Speed." While I was going back and forth, a Necromancer appeared, and I had to sacrifice a couple of secondary heroes to him. He ran away across the sea and spent a long time reviving the landscape there. I destroyed the Sorcerer's outpost and went to the Dwarves. On the island, I ambushed Svey and destroyed the last outpost. By the middle of the second month, I had dealt with all the active enemies. After that, the main hero simply explored the map.
I replayed part of the game and decided not to destroy the portals. I encountered all the AI heroes until they ran out. Interestingly, the Sorcerer's magic skill doesn't change much at the beginning (18), but at the end it's 25. If the first one is completely terrible, the last one is just a minor nuisance. The situation is reversed with the Demons. In the second half of the game, they have so many Imps that my main hero is always out of mana. The Demons acquired some kind of recurring set of artifacts with 20% initiative and the "Darkness" spellbook. Heroes with no magical skills constantly cast "Enslave" and "Berserk." The Dwarves performed consistently, with a lot of meat shields and "Divine Vengeance" appearing at the end for everyone, even if the hero doesn't have the "Light" school.
In the end, the main difficulty of the map is created by the unbalanced and random start.
The units for joining are set formally. Depending on the difficulty level, the number of guards increases, but you can recruit almost the same amount. On "Veteran," a secondary hero can recruit them, and they don't make much difference. But on "Hero," you can recruit them too late, and they don't compensate for the lag in Castle development due to a lack of resources and the long journey to it.
Someone already wrote about Sanctuary, and I agree – it's necessary. Constantly buying a second hero is too expensive.
After passing the first fire wall, I started to like the map less and less.
The quests are too complicated. Some cannot be completed without external hints. Neither logic nor trial and error help. I reached the Elementals, looked at them… Brrr (a brief, uncensored summary of about 100 characters). I quit. (I finished it much later).
The map is made in a similar style to "Red Crystal," but in my opinion, it's weaker.

13ga, thank you for your feedback. Here are a few clarifications: Active enemies choose skills at will during leveling up. I don't know exactly which schools of magic were chosen; checking this would be tedious, so for each race, a specific set of spells is given, characteristic of the leading schools. The level of spells depends on the week number. The stats of enemies initially exceed the player's stats by 2 units each. This is quickly compensated for by the hero's special abilities and stat boosts. Then, artifacts make the difference (their level also depends on the week number). Stats are distributed randomly when enemies level up.

Added 2 minutes ago
The quests are intricate, but I disagree that they lack logic. The only truly difficult one to figure out is crossing the chasm. The Guardians were significantly nerfed in the 05.01 version.

"P.S. It's a shame that only a couple of mapmakers create complex maps (out of a bunch of mediocre ones), and then arcade players come along and criticize them, and everyone gets discouraged." Question: What language is this written in, and what does it mean?

"P.S. damn, only a couple of mapmakers create complex maps (out of a bunch of mediocre ones), and then arcade players come along and everyone falls." Question: what language is this written in, and what does it mean?

"Hardcore players" versus "casual players." I don't like, for example, how the difficulty is presented in this game. A successful outcome in difficult situations often depends on luck, and it's predetermined. That is, if you replay the same moment, all the actions will be the same. Skill, of course, also has an influence... Well, I think I'm going in the wrong direction.

I defeated all the enemies that attacked using ghosts and vampirism, and closed their portals. Now I don't know what to do or how to get to the mentor. There's one option, through the red key, but where can I find it? Please advise.

defeated all the enemies that attacked using ghosts and vampirism, closed their portals, and now I don't know what to do or how to get to the mentor. There is one option through the red key, but where can I find it? Please advise.

You can swim across the lake, next to which the shipyard is located, to the other part of the map.

I'm stuck on the chasm; the walkthrough file doesn't open completely. How do I jump over it?

I'm stuck at the chasm; the walkthrough file doesn't open completely. How do I jump over it?

When you receive a message as you approach the chasm, you need to stop and end your turn. On the next turn, with "full strength," you can try to jump over the chasm.

Thanks, I managed to complete it, although I initially tried running from the farthest corner (I even went to the stable). I completed it over the summer, and I had to reload about 100 times! The map was really enjoyable.

My dad played it, and he said the following (he played your mission, and he really liked the battles; everything else related to completing the quests is complete garbage, especially the cart with the golden dust, which a commoner simply cannot find in their entire life on this map, as well as the rooms with two entrances that can be accessed with keys, but yield completely different artifacts – it's complete nonsense. He didn't continue playing because he realized that there would be another trick or flaw further on).

Why aren't you reading the Walkthrough description?