Posts from Unicorn Empire

What should I do if the game crashes during the second mission, specifically when the dwarves start uniting their armies? Do I really have to replay the mission and avoid destroying the last elven city?

After completing and deleting the map (following all instructions), the game broke and started crashing when loading any save and when attempting to click the modification button. How do I fix this? Besides the mod that adds a mana bar under the portrait, there is nothing else installed. It's a clean Heroes 5 version 3.1. Reinstalling does NOT help.

I had the exact same problem, I agree! I installed a campaign for testing, then deleted it. Now, save files don't work, and the modification button also doesn't work.

RedHeavenHero, it seems the problem is still with your campaign.

The solution that helped was simple – I created a new profile, and loading works there. However, it's a pity that the settings and progress in the original campaigns have been reset.

I had the exact same problem, I agree! I installed a campaign for testing, then deleted it. And now saves don't work, and the modification button also doesn't work.

RedHeavenHero, it seems the problem is still with your campaign.

The solution helped: I created a new profile, and saves work there. However, it's a pity that settings and progress in the original campaigns were reset.

Thank you, it helped.

Apparently, these download issues are somehow related to installing and uninstalling the NCF mod. I've added recommendations for fixing the bug in the first post in the "installation and uninstallation" section.

3 out of 4 missions are bugged; the game always crashes at the end.

RedHeavenHero, hello!)

When will the continuation of the campaign be released? I just finished the Unicorn campaign again, and the ending hints at a continuation...
=)

Hello everyone!
I have a problem. I can't retrain new recruits. It constantly loads, and then nothing happens. Maybe someone has encountered this.
And also, the third mission doesn't start; it immediately kicks me out of the game.
Thank you!

The vicious knights (tier 3) from the first and second garrisons (3 missions) one-shot my stacks, dealing some unbelievable damage numbers. I haven't used them in battle myself, but it doesn't work that way for the neutral creatures.

(There was also some hero that appeared after the second one, but I haven't checked if it works for him yet)

Hello. I wanted to play a campaign. I can't download the archive from mail.ru. It's possible that the problem is that I'm from Ukraine. A VPN doesn't help me download it. What should I do?

Dc_Paradoxx
Here you go:
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/R2ppIllo8wq9Zw
http://file.karelia.ru/4wgsnt/
Or here https://dropmefiles.com/6L8PL, but then add the extension .exe

Dc_Paradoxx
Here you go:
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/R2ppIllo8wq9Zw
http://file.karelia.ru/4wgsnt/
Or here https://dropmefiles.com/6L8PL, but then add the extension .exe

Thank you. I was able to download it.

Greetings, I started playing this campaign and want to share my thoughts. I'll likely split it into several posts, as this is not just one map but a campaign, and in this post I'll try to cover the first two missions.

1st Mission - The Prisoner
- The story says Vayres is captured somewhere, and we need to free him. He fell into the hands of pirates (orcs) because Archbishop Dominic needs Vayres and his knowledge of the Book of Changes to destroy demons as a class...

Well, let's call it an introductory mission. In this mission, our protagonist is Andrius (with Victor's specialty). We have a level cap of 12, and since he's a Machinist, we'll be leveling Machinist.


Before the fight for the castle, I ran around a bit, tried what I could to go into the castle slightly leveled up.

A few battles from this stage for your viewing
VS Daughters of the Sky (not sure why I saved this)

Andrius VS Stefan (castle guard)

Overall, no issues. The main challenge is to free him within 2 months, level up to the cap, and not miss a guy named Vlad, also known as Stefan's teacher, who reaches the castle from the log (most likely) in a couple of days. You can't give up the castle. In the open field, I'm no match for him because I missed the moment, left a bit earlier, returned to the castle, and met him there.
Andrius VS Vlad

After repelling the attack, the second month began, and I thought it was time to find those pirates. After sailing around and dithering a bit, I found the entrance to the blue player's lands and easily defeated him. By the end of the first mission, my protagonist looked like this.


And we meet a familiar hero from the "Ambassador" scenario.



We move on to the second mission, a short, concise beginning. Everything seems fine as we transition to the second mission, and then it took off.

Mission 2 - In Search of Changes...

To say you can go all out is an understatement. In short, it's just AMAZING. I really got into it. I'll try to go in order.
The start gradually introduces you to the story and mentions new troops — "stronger, more obedient." In this mission, we play as Andrius and Vayres.


And this makes it even more interesting. I won't attach screenshots of all the troops; I'll just go over what I remember. First of all, you can't just hire them; you need to retrain them. Luckily, the cost isn't that high. The only downside is you need an empty stack and any tier, but suppose you have 7 tiered stacks — you can't upgrade them all at once; you'll have to do it twice. It's not critical, but still. Fortunately, this action doesn't consume a turn; you just need to stand near the castle and use the retraining ability in the spellbook. Another downside is that these green guys "ARE NOT Order of the Covenant creatures." Why am I saying this? For example, if you upgrade the weekly growth (hypothetically) and forget to train the troops, the castle won't let you train this new army. It's a small thing, but it can be considered a downside.




Let's briefly go over them:

1. Recruits — slightly better stats, main plus is Assault + Stunning Strike. Under different circumstances, you can stun twice, which is cool.

2. Imperial Archers (almost OP, especially under Vayres and with a suppressing volley) — lack direct shot and precise shot but have double shot, retaliate against shooters, fire volleys, and sometimes fire volleys twice. Try to counter that.

3. Men-at-Arms (also almost OP) — have everything that Squires and even Zealots have, only better: Endless Reprisal, Double Attack, Stunning Strike. Same as with Recruits, you can stun twice, which is also nice.

4. Scout Griffins (I didn't use them much in the game, but nonetheless) — a mix of Battle and Royal Griffins + Bear's Paw Strike. All the best features: Dive from the Heavens, initiative from Royal Griffins, Battle Frenzy from the red ones, plus Bear's Paw Strike. Interesting characters.

5. Priests — well, these are completely OP. No-range-penalty shooting and splash, Haste/Bless/Regeneration/Dispel. What else to add? And at Expert level.

6. Cavalrymen — also cool guys. Different philosophy here: Knightly Charge and Charging Strike (more damage + defense mode) + Heal. If they also had some kind of Impaling Strike like Izabel's Knights, it would be perfect, but they're already good.

7. Angels of Elrath — also OP. The only ones that rival them are the Fallen Angels (since the mod from the previous map wasn't removed). Two resurrections in the spellbook — one standard for 0 mana, another as a spell. Plus, if you take Secrets of Light, you can resurrect them twice. And if the Week of Might and Magic hits, it's 4 + 1 = 5 times. Not bad. On top of that, Child of Light deals a solid 60 damage. Fallen Angels are only competition because of the mod and Drain.


Great idea, well implemented. The only nitpick is the Cavalrymen and Men-at-Arms — their HUD icons are very similar, and I sometimes confuse them, but that's minor. So, that's it for the troops. Let's move on to the game itself.

Naturally, since Andrius is slightly leveled, we play as him, and we'll level Vayres later. The level cap is 28, although they could have easily set it to 30 because there are plenty of fights.

According to the scenario, we need the Book of Changes, but we are in a diplomatic alliance of Elves-Dwarves-Humans. To pass through their lands, we use the pretext that there's no news from our city (all detailed in the quests). But the bluff didn't work, and we have to fight the Elves. Despite being a Machinist, the early fights are quite difficult, and I had to be clever in places. The first to meet us at the border is Wingael.


Andrius VS Wingael

It would be fine, but the next day Dirael arrives with 500+ fairies, and we're like, "Good evening, what does this mean?"

Andrius VS Dirael

And she respawns, or rather, she's bought from the tavern almost every day. After running around a bit, gathering troops, we capture the first castle. Well, "capture" — we defeat the hero, then we're told we can't destroy it; it remains for Irolan, becoming a neutral town, and no one attacks from there. Seeing our success in finding the books, Dominic sends reinforcements of new troops + resources. This happens for each of the 4 castles (though I didn't capture the last one because an angry fleet arrives that we're told not to fight to get a bonus, and there's no point since both heroes are already leveled).

And honestly, the Elves are annoying at first until we build up a mass, because they already have one.

Andrius VS Winrael

One of the difficult battles was against Anwen. It showed Danger Level: High, and I didn't have enough troops. Nothing, I cheated here and met her at the garrison. In the open field, they'd tear me apart, but with walls, I almost got away unscathed.

Andrius VS Anwen

Then, after leveling up and gathering an army, I just run around leveling Andrius. During the playthrough, I see Lake Island, which I need to capture according to the quest, but I'm not rushing to it yet — I need to explore everything and collect everything.


And then, as they say, it's smooth sailing. A few more replays against the Elves, level Andrius to 28, take Mentor, teach Vayres, give him the army, and level him up.

Andrius VS Gilraen

Andrius VS Ossir

After leveling up, Andrius turned out like this.


What can I say about Vayres? His cool specialty hasn't changed from the "Ambassador" map. He received his level from Mentor and went to fight mainly the Dwarves, because to get the Book of Changes, we need Rune Stones (keys), which are obtained by breaking through Dwarf castles and visiting a building (you can't just visit it; you're directly told you need to defeat the castle to get the stone). The situation here differs from the Elf castles — we are allowed to capture and keep the castle under our control, which is good.

At this stage, I didn't take screenshots anymore; I just saved replays, so here are all of Vayres' fights.

Vayres VS Ingvar

Vayres VS Tariel

Vayres VS Wingael

Vayres VS Jalib
- This needs clarification. There is a neutral mage guarding the Spell Library. He's quite strong and needs to be taken out quickly because his stats are very high. I gave a clone of the Archangels of Elrath, then it blasted with Divine Vengeance and resurrected with Double Resurrection. After defeating him, you get the Sar-Issa set, which I consider a pretty good bonus aside from the Library itself.

Vayres VS Helmar (3rd castle)

And the final castle is the battle against Svea. Then the next day, the brown player's fleet appears. I could have left Andrius near the place where the key is given, but even without that, we easily make it there in time to get to the Book of Changes and see the final cutscene. But before that, I'll show what Vayres turned out like.

Vayres VS Svea



And the finale, where we reach the location of the Book of Changes and Vayres successfully masters it. But here, our heroes' opinions diverge. During the dialogue, Andrius says it's time to take the book to Dominic to destroy all demons. However, Andrius knows this won't help because it will only destroy the prison and release all the demons into the world. Vayres decides to flee to find Arantir so that he, in turn, can destroy the book's power... The next mission — The Chase — I'll cover in future posts.


Let's sum it up: If the first mission is relatively short, a chill introductory mission, the second is a big map with a cool underground, new troops, and plenty to do on the map until your fingers burn. In short, I'm really enjoying this campaign. Various arenas (I'll attach one of them + a couple of bonus battles with strong stacks, in my opinion). And hopefully, it didn't play a cruel trick on me by leaving Andrius with the Log, because in the third mission (judging by the description), we need to flee from him, but we'll see based on the mission itself.



VS League Stack

VS 865 Dragons

Mission 3 - The Chase

Well, let's continue the series of posts about this campaign. I won't ramble too much here, as the mission is quite fast-paced; in my understanding, there are two paths: charging headlong into garrisons (and in the end, Bertrand will likely meet us and crush us) or the one that the author most likely intended via quests—let's call it that.

The essence of the scenario is that after our discussions with Andreas, we flee from him with the Book of Changes to bring it to Arantir, who in turn will strip it of its power.

Well, I don't know if it played a role that Andreas has a lag, but it seemed to me he moves quite fast; well, let's take it in order.

At the start, we can try things out a bit and build up an army. The first quest that meets us is in the peasants' hut—basically, "guy, kill the demons and we'll help," which is exactly what I did, and as a result, a small number of Landlords join us.

Then you can go left through the garrison, or up; I went up. There is a tasty Cloak of the Underworld, Sandals of the Saint, and barracks where an army can join us for money (I don't remember how much gold).

Further on, you can enter the prophet's hut; he lost a tome of summoning. On the surface, it just looks like it's lying there, but in reality, there are a couple of battles with wolves. Overall, no problems: horses-regen-mass slow and plague, and we observe a funny picture where a bunch of wolves take damage from the plague while they run; the horses hold up fine.

At this point, Andreas appears, and the next day he briskly covers half the map in one turn. Well, we return the tome and are TP'd past the outpost (meaning you didn't even have to fight through the dragons).

Oh right, I rushed and forgot to mention one character, namely Jir, who appears on the third day and will boldly attack us.



Varens vs Jir
Here, as they say, a couple of tries, we got a result close to ideal and move on...

Then the prophet will tell us that there will be an ice wall; you need to appease the fire elementals with sulfur.


And here we enter the underground. Meanwhile, Andreas goes for the key to open the red key-holder to chase after us. In the meantime, we see a market; maybe you need to exchange gold for sulfur here, but there's no need to rush, because there are 2 stacks (sulfur for fire elementals + a shop where I bought a ring for minus morale + a cloak—a pretty good combo) and for the Dragons (which you basically don't have to fight through, since there is more sulfur in the mine), we need 10 sulfur.

We approach the tower, the elementals join us (you can already use them to clear the mine), and then we approach the portal and see how beautifully the ice cube burns away.


My only mistake was that I spent too much mana and had to go back a bit and be more economical, because when we exit the underground, a stack meets us, and without mana, there's no way to deal with them.

After Lorenzo emerges onto the surface, they give us a moment to breathe—something like "guy, I'll give you some time..."


Here we have plenty of space and good artifacts, and there is the Tree of Silana, and finally a well to replenish mana. However, the key keeper is a klutz; his key was stolen by local bandits (orcs), so he asks to return the artifact (Belt of Elementals). Actually, I didn't make it in time because Andreas had already blocked the path...
Beat Goshak, returned the key, and move on...
Varens vs Goshak

And there is nothing more to tell here, as we run forward a bit and are met by Bertrand, which is essentially the finale of this mission.
Varens vs Bertrand (yes, it says Andreas in the replay, that's a typo)

That's the ГГ at the end of the mission

To summarize: A good dynamic scenario that was pleasing; it plays more or less easily and effortlessly, the mini-quests are interesting, and overall everything is cool. Well then, on this happy note, I will move forward

Greetings) Well then, I'll continue the series of posts about this campaign, and now it's time for mission 4, where I really took my time)) Let's go through everything in order

Mission - On the Edge of Balance
In short, we have the Book of Changes and are visiting Lord Erish to give it to him so that he, in turn, can destroy it. We are given one month for everything (if playing on long, this is more than enough; even without long, I don't think there will be any problems). Right from the start, we are greeted by an unpleasant "bonus"



I was like, well, here we go, everything was going fine and then this started. But once you open the objectives, they explain everything in plain language: basically, guy, your army doubts you; prove that your cause is just and your morale will return. Specifically, from the start, we are given +1 lvl (since we completed the quest not to fight the fleet in the previous mission) and immediately a hut where we are shown Zelgrad (where Arantir awaits us) and the approach to it where an undead army is fighting a human army. Since I wasn't in a hurry, I decided to squeeze the maximum out of what was possible and poke around a bit.
At the start, there is a sign that says "head north to the human castle." My thought was this: quickly take the town, make a "cockroach" [low-level hero] to do something there, while I go visit Arantir (you can't go with a cockroach)
Everything would be fine—the outpost isn't even that strong—but -10 morale plays its part, and those OP HORSES that cannot be berserked or subdued, plus Laying on of Hands. I made several attempts and realized it was futile (despite having dark magic) and moved on; I'll go visit the witch to see what she offers me?

Upon visiting her, a dialogue starts, and we are conditionally taught "Necromancy." Varens is like, this isn't what I wanted, but still... For some time, I couldn't understand how it worked; it turns out that if our stack falls, the hero takes a turn, and the corpse is lying there (and not blocked by some unit), then Varens raises undead of the corresponding LVL and grade—though as I understand it, only for this battle... Which looks kind of mediocre...

We move further, clearing everything that can be cleared along the way, and here's an interesting turn: beyond the garrison is a battle between humans and undead, and here, as they say, there are two paths:

On the path were Knights whom we defeated more or less successfully (maybe not perfectly synchronized, but I'll attach all battles with Knights below)

Varens vs Robert

Varens vs Alexander

Varens vs Valeria

Varens vs Fernando

Varens vs Iris 

Varens vs Victoria

Varens vs Felix

Varens vs Benedict

- Help the humans (I played this option) - which, strictly speaking, allows you to complete an additional quest, and the army believes in our priest again and morale normalizes, which in my understanding is cool because I tailored my character for humans. After victory, a small stack of humans will join us. But then we won't be given control of Zelgrad and it will remain a neutral town throughout the game...
- Help the undead - which I also did as a test; morale does not return, the additional quest to regain the army's trust will fail, an undead stack joins, and when we visit Arantir, Zelgrad will be under our control, but the -10 morale won't go anywhere + an extra line in the cutscene...

And this is actually very cool; it's neat that there are conditionally 2 paths to play out this scenario, but I went with the human branch... Next, we go to Arantir and give him the book so he can destroy it...

We show the book and they tell us: wipe the dust off the cover "Necromancy Basics for Dummies" Markel (I cracked up). Along the way, we met Menelaus, a "friend" of Arantir, who swiped our little book by replacing it. And also interesting is that it turns out we weren't with the pirates (orcs) in the first mission for no reason; it was part of a plan that failed to be implemented...

And as it happens, not only was the book needed but also the Rune of Fire, which we consequently don't have...

In the case that we helped the undead, we would have been taught something like "Expert Necromancy."
During the dialogue, Arantir urgently needs to do great things and we must accompany him. Here we encounter the first conditional stumbling block—quite a tough one: Benedict. In the sense that we are still weak while he is strong; well, a couple of attempts, I struggled a bit, and then figured out how to fight him (replay above). And in general, jumping ahead, there are 3 points on the map where Benedict and Victoria (like Ornella) emerge, and they are, in my opinion, on long + special logistics, which was a bit annoying. But there is one legal cheat for taking them out: you can simply stand on their spawn spot, and then even a cockroach with 5 peasants will wipe them...

Well, that's me jumping ahead. After the conversation with Arantir, he needs to be escorted; he walks himself, you just need to let him reach from the bottom left corner to the right and not let him be killed. Overall a simple task, but if he is killed before that moment, the mission is failed...

Along the map, I found a strange resource; actually, I didn't understand what it was for or why... But later we will be told about it.

And further on, we don't need to protect anyone; we just move across the map. Over time, our additional quest with the witch will update, and she will need the Mask of Justice in order to weaken Dominik, the main opponent who is holed up in Iven with the Book of Changes... This is exactly where we need 10 kg of sand + the mask... The mask is guarded by Waishan. Before fighting him, I captured all castles, made cockroaches and started production of monks/horses. It's a pity that castles aren't very logistical between each other and caravans travel for quite a while, but those are just the costs of production))

After capturing the castles, I went to Waishan—a fairly strong caster; here the main principle is the faster you break him, the better (because at that moment it seemed to me that to perform the ritual with the Mask, one needs to open the key-holder...).

Varens vs Waishan

So, the whole map is seemingly cleared, and I already want to visit Dominik, but there are 10,000 phoenixes standing there and it says "no chance." I'm like, what do I do about this... Well, let's try to break through)) And thanks to the author that they are in one stack; although if they are in one stack, you could have cranked up 50,000-100000 units, why not, since they know how to break them. The first time I struggled a bit, then remembered an OP tactic: subdue + raise dead... And here, well, you won once, they sent you a message that they rose from the ashes and told you to find another solution, as you are immediately given an additional quest...
10k phoenixes (I struggled here but then it started moving)

Now any normal person would go and complete the quest, but I was like, oh, I can farm this, and in the end, I abused it... up to level 39)) and hit 40 on a tree. Then I went and completed the quest: go do this - ring of banishment, help the mage, and take the Sphere of Light which is in the monastery, behind a neutral hero whom I defeated (previously not understanding why), but in the end, that's what he was guarding. I went and took the sphere, returned to the prophet, and in the end, he just banished him)) Wait, you could do that?)) Well okay, the path is open, let's move on.

I think I'll see how it goes; I didn't activate the mask, is it really tough there? Seems not, everything can be passed even without changing the build, roughly speaking. Approaching the city, we see a cutscene where the mages are like "the defense is breached, we're losing," and they stole the spheres—Andreas, thinking, chased after them (mission 5) and we were left tete-a-tete with Dominik; well, having such an army, it was no problem to wipe him out. Cool idea with two battles; he seems strong, but overall I didn't feel it; probably if you play on tempo, there would be a difference, but since they give the opportunity to stretch it out here...

Varens vs Dominik (without mask) battle 1

Varens vs Dominik (without mask) battle 2

After the battle, there's a cool cutscene; in the battle you can even see how we use something like necromancy—damn, it seems like a small thing but it's cool.

During the dialogue, we explain that the Book of Changes won't solve the problem, and Dominik has an epiphany, and then bam—Angel Elrath turns into an archdevil and kills Dominik, and we finish him off with Divine Vengeance....

Now the book is ours, we go to the witch, and here's a dialogue: "ah it's you," I didn't understand who she meant, but in the end, we are safely together; she destroys it, and they tell us that this is not the end....

Summing up: cool scenario, I liked it, rich variety of choices on the map, the dragon set which we gradually collect—in short, everything top, everything fire, moving forward...

BONUS: I don't know why, but I wanted to squeeze the maximum out, specifically to see how much game time would be needed to BUY OUT THE ENTIRE ARMY from everywhere + train 50/50 (monks/horses).
Let's just say it's a useless activity, but I wanted to; in the end, it took about 23 months)) And if we're partying like this, then I'll use the mask too) Anyway, screenshots of what came out... To realize this, you need a lot of money, and in the end, to have enough income to buy everything, it was like this...

With the mask it's even easier) but here probably auto-battle would have handled it)) (I don't think there's any point in posting replays)

+ Noticed a funny bug: Ornella can wipe out Andreas and Menelaus; though I don't know how this affects the game, so I didn't check