Posts from Valley of the Marauders

Why does the game feel this way? It’s completely awful! Author, please write how to lighten up the map, or do you want to get us all hooked on points? There's darkness like in

Heart of Night

, and then there's the kind you have – it’s just terrible and hurts the eyes! This doesn’t add atmosphere; it adds a headache. This applies to all map creators for Molemen!

Why does the game feel this way? It's completely awful! Author, please write how to brighten up the map, or do you want us all to get addicted to playing for points? There is darkness like in

Heart of Night

, but there is also a kind of darkness like yours – it’s just terrible and hurts your eyes! This doesn't add atmosphere; it adds annoyance. This applies to all map creators for "krotov"!

I don't understand what you are talking about. The lighting is daytime, as in the screenshots in the first post. I had a dark version, but I fixed it according to community requests. Your eyesight should be fine. I downloaded the archive from Yandex Disk myself and made sure that everything is normal.

I would like to understand why the opponents are stronger against the Barbarian than they were in Remixa's stream, and why it's impossible to build anything from the advanced buildings branch in the city?

I want to understand why the opponents are stronger on the Barbarian than on Remixa's stream, and why you can't build anything from the advanced building branch in the city?

Okay, you're introducing some confusion into my map. Difficulty is a subjective concept; maybe you have a different build, which is why it seems more difficult...
As for building something, you can build everything, except for the tavern, I think.

As for building something, it's not possible. You can build everything except for a tavern, for example.

The map was downloaded from Yandex.Disk, and the screenshots from the game are in the first post. I tried it with both the vanilla game and the NFC mod, and the result is as shown in the screenshots...

The map was downloaded from Yandex.Disk in the first post; here are screenshots from the game. I tried it with both the vanilla Heroes and with the NFC mod, and the result is as shown in the screenshots...

Indeed. And no one said anything about it for so long. I've fixed it...

Hey guys, can you give me some advice, or maybe the author can help? How did you deal with those boss battles where the enemies just attack you out of nowhere, like the succubus and the devil? And then, right after that, you have no chance to click "OK" before the archdemons and temptresses (who are very strong) attack. I can manage the first wave more or less, but then comes the second wave, which I can't beat... even though the hero managed to defeat the first wave.




And these upgrades with overpowered stats appear right after them.
I understand, of course, but they attack no matter what... You're sitting in the castle, a battle starts in the field, you hide in the sanctuary, a battle starts in the field... How is this even possible?
If anyone has managed to beat them, please give me some tips, or maybe the author can explain.

Guys, tell me, or the author, how did you get past those boss-type heroes? The ones that just attack you out of nowhere, I mean those insane succubi and devils, and then right after, without even a chance to click OK, archdemons and temptresses (who are very strong). Okay, I can kill the first ones more or less, then comes the second stack which I just can't take down... although, honestly, the first stack was taken out by the hero




And those upgrades with OP stats, right after them
I understand all that, of course, but they attack no matter what... You're sitting in the castle, the battle is in the field, you hide in the cathedral, the battle is in the field... How is that even possible?
If anyone has gotten through this, tell me, or the author explain

Hi. This is what's called an insufficiently tested map and sloppy work... I got through them with a mountain of meat, in the very late months of the game with Light magic and Summoning. The remix, I think, was through mass knights with Vampirism, back when that wasn't banned. Considering the battle and how far away it is, your army is pretty weak...

Hello. This is what happens when a map isn't tested enough and is just thrown together... I completed it with a large army of creatures, in the late game, using Haven and summoning. The remix, I think, involved mass knights with vampirism, before it was banned. Considering the battle and how far away it is, your army is quite weak...

It's not about that, they just attack at the end of the 3rd month... There is, of course, an idea... But I don't really want to lose the entire army to them, all the griffins, unicorns, and angels, and summoning with 8 spells won't get you very far... So, why did you take the vampire, or do you need to complete the entire map in 4 months? Or should I just give up?

It's not about that, they just attack towards the end of the 3rd month... There is an idea, of course... But I don't really want to lose the entire army to them, all the griffins, unicorns, and angels, that is. Also, summoning with 8 spells doesn't get you very far... So, why did you take the vampire, or do you need to complete the entire map in 4 months? Or should I just give up?

I don't quite understand what you mean by "attack," i.e., nothing happens, you just wander around the map, and then a battle starts? These two were just wondering how the battle after the monologue with the God of Thunder works, as far as I remember.

Hmm, sounds like a computer player is running a script.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "attack," i.e., nothing happens, you just wander around the map, and then a battle starts? As far as I remember, these two were thinking about how the battle would unfold after the monologue with the God of Thunder.

Exactly, I repeat, it doesn't matter where you are, in a Castle, in a Cathedral, in a Polish town, on what land, you just fight on a green meadow... I thought I could outsmart it and that there was a chance to get through 2 waves in the Castle... But I only managed to get through one wave, and I couldn't get through the second, even though I tried to trick it by taking 10 Griffons with 2 attack power each and flying around with the hero to attack... But the chain attack doesn't ask... Maybe if this is fixed, I would play, because the idea is good, but this unexpectedness is just bad, even if you don't train but buy around 20-22 Angels and 50 Knights there, even with mass stones and a focus on defense, there's still not enough meat for the battle...

I only captured the first Castle, then a red dragon (the mage) flew in, then Pit (the barbarian) came, but he doesn't attack me, he just runs off to capture mines. He doesn't bother me, even though I specifically ran around with a small army to bait him, but he still doesn't pay attention to me

Well, I finally managed to complete this scenario, and overall, I was satisfied, apart from a couple of nuances that were unclear to me)

1) Regarding the previous post, it really is true that the script activates the Bot — oddly enough, if Pit (the Barbarian) doesn't attack and you don't touch him, he can travel wherever he wants, and eventually he does go to the God of Thunder, and the script gets activated. The solution is simple: either kill him quickly or don't let him get there...



With that issue resolved, moving on.

The concept itself is great — different castles are all described in the description, which castle is where, what they like to do, so you can pick a tactic against them. But I made a mistake and leveled up not quite rationally, shall we say, and didn't adapt to specific castles. Looking ahead, probably the most problematic ones were the first boss (who breaks your face with Chaos) and the red dragon that rushes the castle and also breaks your face. With the other bosses there weren't many issues. And knowing what would happen in the end, I wasn't in any hurry at all, and "prepared" well enough to take them out without losses. Everything in order...

1. We start by needing a castle, and capturing the "Central Sanctuary" through the Manticore passage twice plus a stack. No issues with the Manticores; with the stack there were some minor ones, but it's passable with minimal losses, more here, less there. Ideally we manage to take the castle and capture the outpost by the end of the week. It's cool that there are tier 4-5-6-7 creatures there (looking ahead, all outposts have such stacks). Another thing I liked is that all outposts later reach via caravan in one day, and for that, respect to the author — seems like a small thing, but it's nice)
Battle 1
2. We head to the first castle — actually, before reaching the castle, we encounter the first "immortal" obstacle in the form of a Necromancer with a Wight model...

Generally no problems with this fellow, except that he has an unpleasant ability "Grave Chill" and Berserk — thankfully only for one turn. But the key catch isn't that, it's that he keeps getting back up until Scouts along our path hint that hey man, capture the mines and everything will be fine. The only thing that seems somewhat illogical to me is that after capturing the mines, we need to kill him again... Logically, once the mines are captured, the guy should die. Oh well...

3. Citadel of the Metal Element — the first castle in the chain of main quests. Here we're warned that the guy runs Chaos and a Lucky Wizard build, seemingly not hard, but in reality he wrecks you big time. In my head I had a plan to beat him with minimum losses (but unfortunately didn't implement it — maybe someone else will find it useful): War Machines with Ballista Rapid Fire and First Aid Tent, Attack with Firearms, Defense with Ballistics and Archery, taking 7 stacks of 2 units each, and extinguishing the guy with minimal losses while he can do whatever he wants. But alas, I didn't get Ballistics and had to sacrifice plenty of meat. Still, the plan was good)



Against Zimo
Quite an interesting fellow) Well, forget him, moving on...

Periodically, various units raid us, namely: Red Dragon — a mage with Fireballs, Pit (Barbarian) — with War Machines (whom I fought only right before the finale), Emerald Dragon (Necromancer I think) — on Dark magic with Berserk, Puppet Master, Blind

I didn't screenshot the first one, but here's the "Necromancer," so into the studio... Against Sky Devourer


A pleasant bonus from this guy is a half-set of Necromancer gear with a Staff. The tactic against him is fairly simple: if you have Light magic, no problem; if you don't (as in my case), make two stacks of Paladins and remove all the filth he casts, meanwhile killing the Catapult, killing flyers inside the castle, and shooting down the rest. Though when his mana runs out, he'll start cutting in melee, and it hurts badly due to his level. Well, no matter — kill him once, and then no more problems (because by that point you're already strong enough)

4. Citadel of the Wood Element — the second zone in order, where we have a side quest involving the Grail, and there are some questions about this zone... Let me start with the side quest: there's a Goblin camp and a Light Elves camp. The Goblins ask us to clear out the Light Elves and they'll help us; the Light Elves ask us to find an Ent so they can leave these lands... I decided to help the Druids (jumping ahead). Their Ent is in prison guarded by the "Chosen One" I believe (didn't screenshot him since I saw no point)
- When approaching the prison, he mentions two keys — those were probably given for killing Ghost and Astral Dragons? Because I didn't quite get it — I returned to the prison only after clearing almost the whole map?
- I probably broke the quest by killing the Druids highlighted in blue, because behind them was the Grail, and horses won't train themselves without enough money? What I mean is — I entered the prison, they said the Ent is with us, I returned to the Light Elves' area, but nothing happened (looks like I broke the quest?)

Anyway, back to the zone itself: we clear everything and head to the castle. Upon attacking, a small number of Archdruids fight for us — but why do they spawn under the wall, in the spikes? While the Goblins spawn normally on my half? I understand that if I'd chosen the Goblin side, they would've helped me during the siege? And since I did the opposite, the Druids help me instead? As for this boss — a Barbarian with an Ogre set, hits pretty hard in melee Second Castle


Nothing to say about tactics — despite hitting hard in melee, he's still not a Houseman who nearly one-shots with a single cast, so moving on...
The protagonist's progress at this point looks like this:


5. Citadel of the Water Element — now this is a more fun game zone, with a sea, a tavern, and a Mentor. The boss himself uses Light magic; the only discomfort he caused was Divine Vengeance...
At the Mentor in human form, we take Mentor instead of War Machines, Leadership instead of Fire Arrows in Attack, and Battle Brawl with Empathy — and you can smash everything and everyone to your heart's content)) Then as our Mentor we take a Trainer with Leadership, Recruitment, etc., etc.

For Water

There's also a prison with an Ent here, which I mentioned earlier.. That confusing quest with dragons, and some swimmer invader guy who didn't sail toward me but sailed off to a small island with a portal, left his boat there, and I couldn't get there — but I defeated the bot anyway

Also here there's an interesting stack — not mandatory to kill, but eye-catching: 25k (I think) Unicorns. Decided to beat them — why not? We go back to the Mentor, take Dark magic, and wipe them out, though not without losses (since they split into 4 stacks), but they're killable. After that little escapade, we re-mentor back.

63000 Unicorns

Didn't screenshot the water boss himself, since I didn't have the puzzle solved at that moment. A pleasant bonus: our outpost near the portal reaches the castle in one day. Plus there's a water Dragon Utopia on the sea. Moving on...

6. Citadel of the Fire Element — no real issues with the boss himself, especially since we already have an army that auto-battle can carry) So I won't dwell too much on that — just screenshots into the studio showing what he is


- upon entering the zone, we get a side quest: beat some guy to claim the riches of the Dragon Utopia. The guy, into the studio


All well and good — I arrived before this horse, the battle started, I won. Only I can't attack the Utopia — the turn simply ends and nothing happens. Is this a bug? Or intended...?

This zone also has our outpost, one day's travel from the castle)

7. Citadel of the Earth Element — here I liked the variety of choosing the development path, but everything in order. When we enter this zone, some Lady (green player) was running around. I'd seen her moving around before, but when I came to this zone, she was politely waiting for her death near the stables. What was she even here for? And what was supposed to involve her? I never figured it out — I defeated her and went to the castle...



Upon approaching the castle, we're given a choice: either we defeat the castle, or we help it and it surrenders to us. Naturally, I chose to help. The help consists of dealing with a Necromancer, and a small zone opens up with the Necromancer, where he waits for us to come for his soul... The Necromancer, into the studio

As you understood, at this stage there can't possibly be any issues with him... A pleasant drop from him was the Cloak of Death's Shadow + Crown of Leadership (to boost recruitment) + Pendant of Mastery (which allows buying out everyone and everything, and training everyone and everything)
After defeating this guy, the castle automatically becomes ours, and we can confidently proceed to the finale — the last closed passage opens, and we go to the God of Thunder.

8. Finale — the God of Thunder. On the way to this guy, we meet 3 heroes again who periodically threatened the "Central Sanctuary." No problems with them whatsoever. After a dialogue like "this is all a game, stop playing around, it's time for you to die," two powerful creatures attack us. Truly powerful ones, but since I knew beforehand it would be tough, I decided to prepare so thoroughly that it would be easy for me. So behold: a level 35 Paladin breaker with an unreal army (which Rutger conveniently grew for us)



Finale 1 (without upgrades)

Finale 2 (with upgrades)

Let's sum things up: Overall, I'd give it a solid 4 out of 5. I liked the map, the concept is good, not without its rough edges of course, but I'm satisfied. Completed it with the Dwarven Elder rating — yes, it took very long, but I wasn't rushing anywhere, which meant I didn't feel the finale at all. In the end, Succubus and Demoness died from a single Horse charge, and Devils and Archdevils got shot a bit, then the Horse charged through them too. Too bad we didn't get to watch a cinematic after the first battle — more precisely, I barely read a few words and the battle starts, and after the second battle there are no cinematics at all, just victory. Thanks to the author and everyone who contributed to creating this scenario — I'm satisfied) Battle replays will be in the post below)

Oh my god, what a clever boss fight from DS 3 and BB XD

Continuing with the files...
Oh yes, there were 63,000 horns, divided into 4 stacks.