Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

I'm leaning towards closing the loop and finally completing Xiedu.

I'm leaning towards closing the loop and finally completing Xiedu.

Perhaps there are detailed speedruns for Xiedu on some Chinese websites, but I haven't seen any.
However, on Richard Chen's well-known YouTube channel, he posted battles with heroes on a map a couple of months ago, and you can see a pretty good time for that map there. He finished the map in 4-4-2.
If you want to see a map time on YouTube.

Xiedu is a really good map. It has many interesting battles, excellent graphics, a lot of different events, and overall, in my opinion, it's one of the best.

And I, for the sake of an experiment, am trying to play A Long Way without an editor. I don't know if I'll last long, but the map is just mind-blowing. Alexandretta looks like a walk in the park compared to it. There's a ton of resources and magic; a lot of enemy heroes are running around with huge armies; and I'm almost certain that there's also the traditional quest-related logistical mess here. I've already restarted it five times, almost from the beginning and from other locations. I'll play it a little more and maybe I'll give up. Playing Minchev's maps without an editor is like courting death.

Marlo wrote in his walkthrough report that it's a very difficult map, and I completely agree with him. So, if you're interested, you can pay attention to something similar. Although Minchev's maps are very much an acquired taste. There's more quest-related confusion than spectacular battles. In this regard, Xiedu is definitely much better.

Again, we come back to the fact that it is extremely difficult to create a map with interesting battles and at the same time without too much magic. The battles turn out to be simply boring, with rare exceptions.

Which version should I play?

I don't even know which version I'm playing right now. I downloaded it from heroesportal. I thought that if Minchev makes cosmetic changes to a map, it would be considered a new map. :D

But in general, I see that he copies a lot. For example, most of what I've played so far in "A Long Way" is almost a copy of the same part of "Alexandretta." And even the enemy heroes on the map are all the same. They all have the same secondary skills (logistics, pathfinding, leadership, attack, defense, magic resistance, and 2 of the 3 elements - water, earth, or air) and the same magic.

Recording of a test final match:

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3CmnegDKN8

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i4V3iXc_vo

3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XIE0b5yw4

4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ELvF-sqMo

 

I tried to exploit these themes with creature animations and morale, and I encountered a problem. The creature information window only appears when I hold down the right mouse button, and there are no animations there. How can I enable it so that it appears only when I click, and not when I hold down the button?
I suspect it's related to the HD tweaks, but I couldn't find where.
In SOD_SP, there's an option to enable this animation for enemy troops (but not for your own), but it doesn't replace the random animation, I don't know why.

Dandy, For everything to work, you need to have the original obstacles installed, along with the random fix – i.e., these options must be activated in SoD_SP. In theory, you shouldn't need to change anything in the tweaks. I don't have an animation when I use the right mouse button on my creature, but everything works fine with the left mouse button, or when I use the right mouse button on an enemy creature. It's strange that the window doesn't open when you click. But there's an alternative – you can use a hotkey, the key is T. It opens the window for the creature that is currently moving. You can use this key and Enter/left mouse button/Esc to close the window.

It seems that "A Long Way" cannot be completed without an editor. I played until the end, 9 months in, cleared the top and about 40% of the bottom – everything I could reach. The portals in the center of the swamp and in the center of the "snake area" can be controlled, but the problem is that there are two more behind the brown gates, and there is no access to them. Capturing the castles located near them is useless. I've captured them 3 times already, but as soon as I move away, computer-controlled units crawl out of these portals like cockroaches and recapture everything. There was no such nonsense in Alexandretta. There were 3 portals there, which I blocked, and then everything was fine.

But even that is not the worst part. The problem is that I completely don't understand where to go and what to do next. I don't see any passages or places where I could cross the water. Should I look for "Call of the Boat" in the quests? These quests are already annoying enough. Not only are there too many of them, but everywhere they require something that is hard to find at all. There is some portal, but to go through it, they require three different "bags of gold". I have two, but I have no idea where to get the third. I don't see any other options for where to go next. I look at the map and I'm really at a loss.

I'm sorry, but if the map cannot be completed without studying it for half a day in the editor, that's complete nonsense. It seems that I will either have to use the editor or abandon this experiment altogether. I'm tired of going to such lengths.

The new version includes a book of earth magic.

The Book of Earth would definitely make the Walkthrough easier, but it's still possible to complete the map without it. Marlo completed A Long Way without the Book of Earth, and I, for example, completed Alexandretta without it. The problem lies elsewhere. On these maps, progress is built around a very complex system of quests. It's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to figure them out without an editor. That's the crux of the issue.

Alexandretta, and this map in general, are great up until the point where you need to start untangling the quest threads. You play, and you enjoy it. But as soon as it comes to this quest madness, my desire to play suddenly disappears. Although I can understand why some people enjoy this process. It's purely a matter of taste.

In short, I'm going to use the editor.

P.S. By the way, there was one funny battle on this map. Something like a reverse Metataser (a battle on the first day with rusty dragons). The enemy teleported a huge stack of 170 Hydras into my Castle. I quickly blinded them and fled with all my troops outside. I finished off the remaining part of his army that was outside the walls, and then I used the Towers to shoot down these Hydras. I had to sit and skip turns for almost 600 rounds while the Towers, with their ridiculous damage, shot down the Hydras.

Seeds?

Which specific save files are you interested in? Considering that I've restarted the game about five times, I've accumulated over 600 save files, and they take up about 300MB. I've attached the latest save file, but if you need others, please specify which ones.

scars of reality, didn't you say you would avoid Minchev's maps? Let me know if you're being held hostage and forced to unravel quest chains at gunpoint

By the way, since we're on the subject, I recommend checking out the recently uploaded map on maps4heroes, Alice in Iceland. It doesn't resemble Minchev's usual maps at all; it's small with excellent combat. Indirect signs suggest a Chinese origin for the map, but who cares, the gameplay is interesting in any case.

There were 3 portals, which I closed, and now everything is fine.
quote]

How do you close portals? Also, I'll say that playing large maps without teleportation is terrible, yuck.