Marlo_Stanfield
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Map Name: Aaron
Author: Grigor Minchev
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog
Finally, this map has had its turn. Among the author's other works, it stands out due to its uniquely designed futuristic underground. I can say that I liked the map. From what I've read about it, "Aaron" was originally dated 2001 (!), but remained unpublished for a long time until the author decided to dig through his storage a few years ago and gave it a final polish. In terms of gameplay and content, there is nothing from 2001 here; the only reminder of its antiquity is the game version it was made for – "Restoration of Erathia". Of course, it can be played on SoD or Complete, but some restrictions imposed by the game version are quite amusing. For example, the Heroes tab is inactive in the editor, and consequently, it was impossible to specify which flags had access to hire certain heroes. This is one of the factors that prevent the map from being classified as difficult. Moreover, by the author's standards, the gameplay here is quite lenient. The surface world gives flashbacks to "A Long Way," but there are several fundamental differences: there is no experience penalty for our heroes, no banned secondary skills, and no magic hunger (with the exception of the author's traditional map-movement spells, as well as resurrection/raising the dead). The army compositions and the recruitment modes for both the player and the AI also differ. This map is not about having massive armies under our control (assuming tempo play, of course).
The victory and defeat conditions are typical for the author's works. Find the Grail and bring it to the city; you must not lose the starting hero named Aaron (Desa according to the passport). There is also a second hero at the start, who can be chosen at the player's discretion. I took Kyrre, as mobility is key. The early game is quite brutal. You need to take the city within seven days, which requires fighting a rather difficult battle against an AI with a bunch of shooters and harpies. The task is not just to win, but to preserve enough of the army to then proceed to clear the griffin conservatories and subsequently carve a path to the hero Aaron. The next stage involves collecting all the respawn objects, visiting the blue and green tents, and freeing Clavius from prison, who has 100 Ghost Dragons, two hundred Terror Knights, 100 Scorpicorns, and other trash stacks in his army. This will be our army for a very long time to come. In general, a big plus of the map is that a wide variety of units proved situationally useful along the way. Among them, for example, were Champions, and in my case, Hydras and Conflux units. If everything is done with tempo, the AI doesn't have time to gather enough troops to put up significant resistance, but the problem lies in the lack of reviving spells, meaning the army slowly but surely dwindles until we obtain resurrection and raising the dead. Gradually, we master the surface part of the map. Clearing it is easier than in "A Long Way"; minor differences in the terrain here work in our favor.
After establishing control over the surface and neutralizing the AI, the next global goal is to visit the brown tent in the underground. The guard of the Pandora's box in front of it is simply insane: legions of Liches, skeletons, and zombies, as well as a very thick stack of Ghost Dragons. Meanwhile, by month 4, I had a few dozen Archangels, Scorpicorns, and over a hundred Champions, with weak stats on the main hero. No matter how much I tried to be creative with Paralysis, after adequately breaking through the dragons and liches, there were still three very fat stacks of infantry that simply could not be broken. The solution, as often happens in difficult situations, was found in purchasing Archdevils. After some manipulations with bribing the AI in different parts of the map, I managed to bring in 18 horned ones, who decided the outcome of the battle.
The brown tent gives us a number of new possibilities, the key one of which involves descending into the upper left corner of the underground. An interesting gameplay moment occurred here, which wasn't apparent even with the editor. While traveling through the underground, we remove the passage guard, which looks like a dragon utopia. That is, it occupies several cells and, as a result, unexpectedly opens a road for the turquoise AI to our rear. I had only seen something similar before in "The Last Crusade." Thus, our strongest enemy on this map – Tamika with imba stats and a bunch of Terror Knights – emerges and causes quite a stir. I managed to kill her through a series of tricks using secondary heroes. Next, you need to buy out Tamika, as her stats will help us in the final stages of the game. Meanwhile, our hero mastering the underground frees Jem with a boat summon. A curious point is that you need to go to her with a spellbook in your backpack, which must be looted from monsters in the area of the two Inferno. The result of wandering the underground is the liquidation of two enemy flags. The remaining five are isolated and plague us with periodic raids throughout the game.
Next, we face mega-blockage number two: the box in front of the purple tent. This time there are even more undead, and our army hasn't increased much. In short, only Archdevils under Tamika could push through this. The process was complicated by her lack of water magic, but we managed to survive all the Liches' shots. The battle turned out interesting, so I decided to capture it in a video. The purple tent immediately gives us access to the last black one, which in turn opens the way to the final quests. The author also provides an opportunity unseen in his other works: capturing the city of Maznenhoff with the option to build a city portal. Even if it's already the end of the map, the fact remains! The final quest grants angel wings, which are needed to fly into the digging zone.
Overall, for players familiar with Grigor Minchev's works, this map won't open new horizons, but it should be interesting to play regardless. However, it might be a bit too much as an introduction to the author's cartography; if you wish, you can find simpler works, such as Arlok, for example.
Author: Grigor Minchev
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog
Finally, this map has had its turn. Among the author's other works, it stands out due to its uniquely designed futuristic underground. I can say that I liked the map. From what I've read about it, "Aaron" was originally dated 2001 (!), but remained unpublished for a long time until the author decided to dig through his storage a few years ago and gave it a final polish. In terms of gameplay and content, there is nothing from 2001 here; the only reminder of its antiquity is the game version it was made for – "Restoration of Erathia". Of course, it can be played on SoD or Complete, but some restrictions imposed by the game version are quite amusing. For example, the Heroes tab is inactive in the editor, and consequently, it was impossible to specify which flags had access to hire certain heroes. This is one of the factors that prevent the map from being classified as difficult. Moreover, by the author's standards, the gameplay here is quite lenient. The surface world gives flashbacks to "A Long Way," but there are several fundamental differences: there is no experience penalty for our heroes, no banned secondary skills, and no magic hunger (with the exception of the author's traditional map-movement spells, as well as resurrection/raising the dead). The army compositions and the recruitment modes for both the player and the AI also differ. This map is not about having massive armies under our control (assuming tempo play, of course).
The victory and defeat conditions are typical for the author's works. Find the Grail and bring it to the city; you must not lose the starting hero named Aaron (Desa according to the passport). There is also a second hero at the start, who can be chosen at the player's discretion. I took Kyrre, as mobility is key. The early game is quite brutal. You need to take the city within seven days, which requires fighting a rather difficult battle against an AI with a bunch of shooters and harpies. The task is not just to win, but to preserve enough of the army to then proceed to clear the griffin conservatories and subsequently carve a path to the hero Aaron. The next stage involves collecting all the respawn objects, visiting the blue and green tents, and freeing Clavius from prison, who has 100 Ghost Dragons, two hundred Terror Knights, 100 Scorpicorns, and other trash stacks in his army. This will be our army for a very long time to come. In general, a big plus of the map is that a wide variety of units proved situationally useful along the way. Among them, for example, were Champions, and in my case, Hydras and Conflux units. If everything is done with tempo, the AI doesn't have time to gather enough troops to put up significant resistance, but the problem lies in the lack of reviving spells, meaning the army slowly but surely dwindles until we obtain resurrection and raising the dead. Gradually, we master the surface part of the map. Clearing it is easier than in "A Long Way"; minor differences in the terrain here work in our favor.
After establishing control over the surface and neutralizing the AI, the next global goal is to visit the brown tent in the underground. The guard of the Pandora's box in front of it is simply insane: legions of Liches, skeletons, and zombies, as well as a very thick stack of Ghost Dragons. Meanwhile, by month 4, I had a few dozen Archangels, Scorpicorns, and over a hundred Champions, with weak stats on the main hero. No matter how much I tried to be creative with Paralysis, after adequately breaking through the dragons and liches, there were still three very fat stacks of infantry that simply could not be broken. The solution, as often happens in difficult situations, was found in purchasing Archdevils. After some manipulations with bribing the AI in different parts of the map, I managed to bring in 18 horned ones, who decided the outcome of the battle.
The brown tent gives us a number of new possibilities, the key one of which involves descending into the upper left corner of the underground. An interesting gameplay moment occurred here, which wasn't apparent even with the editor. While traveling through the underground, we remove the passage guard, which looks like a dragon utopia. That is, it occupies several cells and, as a result, unexpectedly opens a road for the turquoise AI to our rear. I had only seen something similar before in "The Last Crusade." Thus, our strongest enemy on this map – Tamika with imba stats and a bunch of Terror Knights – emerges and causes quite a stir. I managed to kill her through a series of tricks using secondary heroes. Next, you need to buy out Tamika, as her stats will help us in the final stages of the game. Meanwhile, our hero mastering the underground frees Jem with a boat summon. A curious point is that you need to go to her with a spellbook in your backpack, which must be looted from monsters in the area of the two Inferno. The result of wandering the underground is the liquidation of two enemy flags. The remaining five are isolated and plague us with periodic raids throughout the game.
Next, we face mega-blockage number two: the box in front of the purple tent. This time there are even more undead, and our army hasn't increased much. In short, only Archdevils under Tamika could push through this. The process was complicated by her lack of water magic, but we managed to survive all the Liches' shots. The battle turned out interesting, so I decided to capture it in a video. The purple tent immediately gives us access to the last black one, which in turn opens the way to the final quests. The author also provides an opportunity unseen in his other works: capturing the city of Maznenhoff with the option to build a city portal. Even if it's already the end of the map, the fact remains! The final quest grants angel wings, which are needed to fly into the digging zone.
Overall, for players familiar with Grigor Minchev's works, this map won't open new horizons, but it should be interesting to play regardless. However, it might be a bit too much as an introduction to the author's cartography; if you wish, you can find simpler works, such as Arlok, for example.
On the second week, you need to move into the "one-way" area behind the red gates. Here is a curious nuance: it is implied that different heroes exit in different places. Malekith toward the dungeon, Craig toward the Stronghold, Orrin toward the Tower, Tazar toward the Rampart. The trick is that the support hero, Iona, can move independently of the main hero. In my case, Malekith went to his mini-zone, and Iona went to the Tower. Her specialization allows her to cast Anti-Magic via a djinn on the Magic Dragon before the enemy titans' turn, and the dragon handles everyone himself. The bonus addition for Iona in the form of 7 titans will be very useful. Malekith, meanwhile, breaks through his opponent with monsters. You cannot afford to lose devils; they will be our key stack for the rest of the game. Build a Mage Guild in the dungeon and move further. The next task is serious: you need to figure something out against Kyrr, who has imba stats and 1000 Pit Lords. kolotok described how this hero can be defeated immediately. But the trick is that you don't have to defeat Kyrr; you can run away from her with two (!) heroes at once, even though she levels up through events along the way and is given boots and gloves. In general, a real action sequence unfolded at this stage, where you need to slip under Kyrr's nose, reach the saving Inferno, and teleport through the city gates back to the starting castle. Another cool point is that while fleeing, one of our heroes—by maximizing movement modifiers—can run around the legion of Arch-Devils and collect external dwellings of devils, a dolphin, gloves, and a beacon (preferably the main hero, as stats are given along the way). Even 50 mp, not even 100, will matter in implementing this idea. I was exactly 50 mp short of claiming both devil external dwellings. I suspect I didn't get lucky with the heroes' positioning at the start of the day.
