Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Out of curiosity, I tested one scenario on Metatasker. In the synthetic test, the hero Rusty Fly is defeated if the AI frees him. The key to success: cell 27.58.0 (or a similar one in terms of properties) and harpies/sorceresses in the army. Although Rusty has a clone, his priority is to summon earth elementals and then cast antimagic. The only problem: the battle crashes somewhere around round 30. It seems to be related to stack overflow on the battlefield for the AI and its attempts to cast something.

and the final milestone is somewhere around the 12th month. Well, I lived to see the day when other streamers will learn about the metatasker)

This final deadline turned out to be not so critical.

But the appearance of the heroes Gilgalor (107;57;0) on the 44th day and One Eye (125;115;0) on the 55th day could definitely spoil things.

Let's just say, it requires performing some very unusual actions that I haven't encountered anywhere else.

Are we talking about pits? Well, that's just absurd. I really can't imagine how anyone could figure that out without meticulously examining the map in the editor. This is even worse than the Dungeon on 1.2.6. Now I'm definitely not going to play maps by this author anymore.

It turns out that the Dungeon could have been captured on 1.2.1, and the starting Castle could have been built much faster. My videos about capturing the Dungeon on 1.2.4 are, of course, ridiculous after this. I'd better delete them to avoid embarrassment.

I looked at some other maps by the same author, and I didn't find this trick with the pits anywhere else except in Alexandretta. I think this is more of an exception than a rule. In general, I can recommend using Prospector RT, but first, you need to remove all heroes with negative levels and all Titan's Lightning spells; otherwise, it refuses to work.

scars of reality, and did you initially exchange money for gems at the draconian rate? I didn't like this option at all, which led me to think that gems are obtained in some other way. In general, you won't get any particular benefit from capturing the dungeon earlier, since the issuance of additional troops is tied to version 1.2.7, so in the first two weeks, I included capturing the mine in the upper right corner, behind the mummies, in my strategy.

I can generally recommend using Prospector RT.

I try to use as few third-party programs or editors as possible. However, as recent experience has shown, there are maps where their use is almost essential.
As far as I remember, I've only used Prospector a couple of times. Once, when I decided to check the possibility of capturing a gold mine in Lord Rings. I needed to achieve a certain level of hero stats. And another time, a long time ago, when I was trying to get a quick start in Paragon with Boots in a corpse. But that's a well-known strategy.

Added 10 minutes later

scars of reality, did you initially exchange money for gems at the dragon rate?

Yes, I exchanged gold and gems for gems. It seemed to me that this was how it was intended. First, I exchanged troops for 7 wood, i.e., 5 units, in order to immediately build a "Market" and have 2 units left to unlock the next building. Then, at the market, I exchanged 5K gold for 1 gem to get another 17K gold from the Oracle.
At the same time, with Christian on version 1.1.4, I captured the mine and then accumulated resources to exchange them for gems at the dragon rate (it turned out that 20K gold and 20 gems were wasted).
I couldn't even imagine that there was another way to do it. It seemed to work out according to the calculations. And I was even a little surprised when I looked at your screenshots. I wondered where you got the money for the Resource Hoard if you were already short on gold.

In general, you won't get much benefit from capturing the dungeon earlier, since the issuance of additional troops is tied to version 1.2.7.

I disagree. There is a benefit, and it's significant. For the sake of the experiment, I replayed the beginning using the new system and captured the gems on 1.1.3, the Dungeon, and the sawmill on 1.2.1, and you can still build a lot before 1.2.7. And even on 1.2.1, I already have 4 heroes, the Stronghold, the Resource Hoard, and the Tower of Archers built in the castle. I never even dreamed of such a start before.

You can build many things, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For further progress, you only need harpies, that's how I see it.

scars of reality, Minchev recently released an S-size map. You can check it out. I also started playing one of his maps recently, played for a couple of days, and decided to make plans for the future, delved into the editor, and got engrossed for a month or two. I got bored and quit. There was also a need to manage creatures, sending them across vast distances to certain quest guards. I don't like that.) A Cold Day In Hell also looks interesting, it's an M-size map.

Dandy, The traditional question is - will there be streams? Not about the Lime map, but in general?

Are you talking about pits? That's just ridiculous. I really can't imagine how anyone could figure that out without meticulously examining the map in the editor. This is even worse than the Dungeon on 1.2.6. I'm definitely not going to play any more maps by this author.

Could you provide more details about the pits? I saw a walkthrough of the game up to the point where we build the Grail and reveal the map. I'd like to try to figure it out myself, but I don't have the time or the desire to replay the game 100-500 times to understand the author's idea.

The pit puzzle isn't from Metathesis. It's in Minchev's map "Alexandretta," and it's a riddle about key artifacts.

wenwell, hi. Streams will probably be in about a month or so. Regarding the prospects for the 4th month - I haven't planned that far ahead, but we can calculate it based on the number of snakes. The situation on day 147 looks like this: number of snakes in the castle (growth). 147: 43(23)+0(19)+0(15) 217: [43+23]*2(23)+19*2(19)+15*2(19) +27 in reserves, or 204(61)+27 in reserves 247: 204+61*3+27*4 in reserves = 387+108 311: (387+61)*2+27*5 = 896+27*5 411: (896+4*61)*2 +27*8=2280+216=2496 At the same time, what improvements can be made? 1 snake was bought on the 2nd week (this can be avoided), and one of the swamps is not in the castle on day 147, that is, 5 additional snakes in the first month give +5*2 (2nd month)*2 (3rd month)*2 (4th month) = 5*8 = 40. The number of snakes for buying on day 411 is not that many, but if we also generate snakes in the 2nd month, then this is +15*3*4=180 additional snakes, and 15*3*2=90 snakes in the 3rd month. We get a maximum of 2806 snakes on day 411 - if I didn't make any mistakes in the calculations. Well, something should also join us. In terms of money, it seems to be okay. 2.8k snakes cost 673k gold to buy. I assume that without snakes, we won't reach the Necropolis, which means the income will be 26k gold per day - but this is after dealing with Inferno and the Barbarians. Even if we assume that the 2nd month will have an average income of 16k (all on Barbarian spawns + swamp, Inferno will start to generate income), and the 3rd month will have 26k, then by day 411 we will earn 1176k gold (or 500k extra) + events for money. It seems like it's enough for a buyout and to buy some minor things. Or, due to the non-instant delivery of troops, it's enough for two buyouts. Accordingly, the question is whether there will be enough snakes for the Necropolis and the boss. How to deal with early Inferno, or rather, the garrisons at 10 gold mines, without wasting weeks on ducks in the middle of the 2nd month - this is an open question. Among the controversial points is this strategy with animation and morale/luck - I don't even know. And again, rolling all these weeks is also a pain. But yes, somewhere around day 421-431+, theoretically, you can finish the map. But I think I'll save it for later.

Added 5 hours 41 minutes ago
Regarding the arrangements for the bug - I used only 2 configurations. Ballista + any non-flying unit + 5 snakes. On the Hydras, I took 4 snakes, leaving the possibility to attack the ballista from below - judging by the HP, it was hit once or twice, but then the Hydra standing right next to it somehow didn't attack it. Wagon + lizards + 3 dragonflies. Against Thunderbirds and Griffins, all this was covered by 1-level Goblins - it all worked out well. It seems intuitively clear how to arrange the units here. In SoD_SP, Ctrl+Z only allows you to defend for 1 round, I don't think this is compatible with the quick battle bug

The streams will probably be in a month or so.

Which map will you be streaming? Are you going to stream Limes?

Dandy, Interesting points, in short – it all comes down to money. Breaking through Inferno garrisons might still be a problem, yes. But I'm more interested in this in the context of whether it's possible to complete it in 5 months without exploiting the quick-buy bug, because 6 months should definitely be enough.

Regarding randomness: it's not so significant that it would be impossible to complete the final stage without using the window-opening trick. You mentioned using randomness in the tactical phase. I'll add that this allows you to manipulate randomness in the same way as with windows – one creature animation = a change in the random number. Of course, it won't be possible to control randomness throughout the entire battle as it is done with windows, but it is quite possible to select, say, 2 initial morale values for the desired stacks with a +3 bonus, and then simply disable the fixed randomness or slightly change the order of actions and find not +2 morale, but +4/5, which is quite enough to defeat the boss without windows. Morale here is a conditional concept; rather, it refers to AUM (abilities/luck/morale), using terminology from HP.

Here's an example of the initial phase with opening a window once:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bo2xeKLYCo

The window could also have been skipped, and simply switch to standard randomness and catch luck in the usual way. Morale for the birds is not mandatory, but it can also be easily obtained.

It's clear that with or without the window, it's all about controlling randomness. The problem is that if we set ourselves within certain rules, with this set of troops, we may need money for another bribe (which, again, does not negate the question of the 5th month). In the case of exploiting randomness, it is possible to complete it with only one bribe, but perhaps an additional stack of "cannon fodder" will be needed in the first stage.

And I'll also note that in both cases, we're talking about playing with snake generation, which gives a much greater advantage on this map than messing around with creature animations.

Which map will you be streaming? Is it going to be Limes?

I don't hate people that much. The question is open. Probably, I'll agree to the topic of generating random abilities/morale and other things – it's impossible to regulate this, so if you can't counter it, lead the way. I only see one alternative – always play with HD+ random settings, but that also has its drawbacks. If we move on to playing without exploits, then by the 5th month, you'll have more than enough snakes, but 4 months is clearly not enough. Therefore, I'm again advocating for starting with the attack bonus. Being a week or even two weeks behind will still give you the necessary number of snakes, but the quality of this unit will be higher. But this is only if you can get there before the blue player upgrades their snakes. However, it doesn't seem like the situation is that bad. 20 griffins and the rest of the meat are enough to break through the garrison, so I think the garrison at the swamp can be broken around day 211 (griffins 15, but the griffins and other units are of higher quality) or day 221 if you start with the attack bonus

Which map will you be streaming? Are you going to stream Limes?

I don't hate people that much. The question is open.Maybe you should try some newly discovered Chinese maps, like the picturesque land, or Counterattack of the Jedi? Or they say that Dark Men are even tougher than Metataks.