Posts from Samurai Persistence

Did you install version 1.6? The campaign only works properly on version 3.1, so I wouldn't be surprised if the abundance of bugs stems from that...

Did you install 1.6? The campaign only works properly on 3.1, so I wouldn't be surprised if the abundance of bugs comes from that...

Most likely, that's the case, since no one else seems to be complaining... I downloaded the latest version, I think. The author didn't specify which version his map is compatible with in the description. I realized that it won't work on my EWA (and that includes the campaign with the NCF mod). But that's not the main point... the bugs I encountered towards the end of the levels, and the fact that I couldn't complete a couple of levels, don't ruin the game for me; they just make it even more challenging.))
I'd like to ask the author where he hid the escaped prisoner, Ronin, in the fourth game. Because of him, I couldn't get enough Blood or Tears. I had to use cheats to get over the fence and kick everyone there. But even after doing that, the game didn't end. I had to close @Win() a second time.
By the way, Hottabych, could you list which versions of the game are currently relevant? Maps are made for 3.0 (presumably older versions) and 3.1, but on the internet, I've found 1.6 and even versions like v 2.1 v2 (28567) / 3.1 v2 (28569) - Tribes of the East [New Version] in Russian. I'm completely confused. I've been using EWA for 5 years or more, and it was fine. But then I decided to experiment...

Game versions: Original game (bugs, incomplete functionality): 1.0-1.6, the most "advanced" is 1.6 The Hammers of Fate expansion (dwarf race, greater functionality, new bugs): 2.0-2.1, the most "advanced" is 2.1 The Tribes of the East expansion (orc race, greater functionality, bug fixes): 3.0–3.1, the most advanced is 3.1 Important: only version 3.1 supports TalkBoxes as a scripting function, so maps with them (including this one) will not work correctly. All maps from the "Maps for Heroes 5: Tribes of the East" section must be played on version 3.0+ or on mods of this version (e.g., EWA or 5.5). If you use version 3.1, you are guaranteed to be able to play any map from the section without bugs – because they will all be compatible.

I finally got around to playing this unique Campaign. I was skeptical at first, but what I saw in the end was a pleasant surprise.

Generally, I don't write after the first mission, but I encountered a number of oddities and decided to write about them. Technically, the mission worked normally; I passed it on the second try (Hero difficulty, of course). The Lich successfully captured the allied city and fled. But the other orange heroes (except those attacking the ally) behaved strangely. The first sea elf druid doesn't attack the city at all. Instead, he first runs around me, then runs to a village and takes its garrison. He returns, but still doesn't attack; he just harasses me until I kill him in the open field. While he's doing this, a dark elf arrives, in my opinion, the most dangerous enemy of all. He attacks normally, the only one who does. We destroy the catapult, and that's it. Next is the knight. The weakest enemy. He doesn't go to the city; he just stands on the shore and waits for me to leave or kill him. The last two are the same. As a result, I just ignored the orc and the gnome and ran to recapture the allied city, hoping to win. This worked, and they survived with the city under their control. I took ore as a starting bonus, so the blockade wasn't a critical problem for me.

That's how it went. I'm continuing to play. I hope the author responds to comments. So far, I really like it, except that sometimes in the jungle, you can't see any neutral creatures or what they're guarding. And the small areas of navigable sea are really well done.

P.S. I initially lost to the dark elf because I hadn't quite figured out the mission's gameplay yet.

I finally got around to playing this unique Campaign. I was skeptical at first, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

I don't usually write after the first mission, but I encountered a few oddities and decided to write about them. Technically, the mission worked normally; I passed it on the second try (on Hero difficulty, of course). The Lich successfully captured the allied city and fled. But the other orange heroes (except those attacking the ally) behaved strangely. The first sea elf druid doesn't attack the city at all. Instead, he first runs around me, then runs to a village and takes its garrison. He returns, but still doesn't attack, but simply harasses me until I kill him in the open field. While he's doing this, a dark elf arrives, in my opinion, the most dangerous enemy of all. He attacks normally, the only one who does. We destroy the catapult, and that's it. Next is the knight. The weakest enemy. He doesn't go to the city; he just stands on the shore and waits for me to leave or kill him. The last two are the same. As a result, I just ignored the orc and the gnome and ran to recapture the allied city, hoping to win. This worked, and they survived with the city under their control. I took ore as a starting bonus, so the blockade wasn't a critical problem for me.

That's how it went. I'm continuing to play. I hope the author responds to comments. So far, I really like it, except that sometimes in the jungle, you can't see any neutral creatures or what they're guarding. And the small areas of navigable sea are really well done.

P.S. I initially lost because of the dark elf, because I hadn't quite figured out the gameplay of the mission yet.

Thank you. Yes, the first mission requires a bit of luck with the random events to play it properly, due to the strange behavior of the moveHero function, where the hero doesn't just go where he's told, but the game, for some reason, calculates whether he can get there without significant losses. Initially, I simply set the priority to the city, without clearly indicating to go to it, but it worked very poorly, and only the druid remained. To make the moveHero function work without glitches, you can have the hero with an army stay in the city, rather than standing at the gates; then the game won't see any obstacles. And you have four days to recapture the main city, in case it is captured.

Looks like I need to replay the second mission. Winning the fourth mission with the current Priestess build is impossible. I don't even understand what the point of the Chaos faction is when there aren't any Chaos cities in the Campaigns. I focused on the first hero, but in reality, he turned out to be secondary for the Campaign itself. Yes, there is a build for machines for the Elf-Chaos hero, but how was I supposed to know that it was essential? Without it, she takes too long to complete the conditions for returning her brother, and then Orange arrives with a huge army from three cities and doesn't leave any chance at all. And this isn't even his entire army. He forgets a couple of thousand skeletons at home, along with a couple of hundred ghosts. I don't even know... should I gather a large undead army and try to rush with it? Then replenish it in Orange's cities, and leave the starting city as unnecessary baggage. Because gathering Nagas isn't very effective: there will be twenty-five times more Necromancers. Here, at least 150 Coral Priests would make a difference. They are so overpowered that with their chain attack, they could wipe out half the army with a single shot, especially since the Necromancer hero is weak. But 250 Liches and 1000 Ghosts do their job, and you have 40 Priests left, after the Fireballs from the Lords of the Abyss. Although he has few dragons and undead. And that's not even knowing what Purple will do, and I have no idea what Yellow will do at all. Well, the Priestess of Shalassa, with water, harmony, etc., and Chaos magic, is just lore-wise ridiculous, sorry. And I only found Armageddon among the high-level spells. Added after 14 minutes I actually suspected something was wrong in the second mission. It was too easy, fast, and peaceful, and the mentor was very visible. But I passed the third mission very easily because the build was perfectly suited for it. And in the fourth mission, it turned out to be a total misbuild. There aren't enough good spells (I should have taken Chain Lightning at the start, but on the other hand, it doesn't affect initiative and isn't that easy to implement...), and there aren't any machines. And 17 in magic is just so-so. A lot of mana, and that's about it.

Looks like I need to replay the second mission. Winning the fourth with the priestess's current progression is impossible. I honestly don't know what the point of a Chaos mage is when the campaign has no Chaos towns whatsoever... I focused on the first hero, but in reality he turned out to be secondary for the campaign itself. Yes, there is a machine build for the Elf-Chaos mage, but how was I supposed to know it was essential) Without it, she takes forever to fulfill the conditions for her brother's return, and then Orange shows up with a huge army from three towns and leaves absolutely no chance. And this isn't even his entire army. He leaves a couple thousand skeletons at home along with another couple hundred ghosts. 

I don't even know... gather a large army of Necromancers and try to rush with it somehow... Then replenish in Orange's towns, leaving the starting town as useless ballast. Because gathering Nagas isn't very effective: there will be twenty-five times more Necromancers. At least 150 Coral Priestesses would be a different story. They are so imbalanced that with their chain attack they could wipe out half the army in one shot, especially since the Necromancer hero is weak. But 250 Liches and 1000 ghosts do their job, while you have 40 Priestesses who survived the Arch Devils' fireballs. Although he has few dragons and mummies. And I still don't know what Purple will do, and who Yellow even is, no idea))) 

Well, a Priestess of Shalassa, water, harmony, etc. with Chaos magic is lore-breaking nonsense, sorry) And from high-level spells I only found Armageddon somewhere. 

At the Altgrade, Priestesses have the "Channel" ability, and in the second mission around Jegono there are both the spell shop and mage treasure, and a Dragon Utopia in the jungle for the chance to obtain spells.

Another hero took Utopia, the mages gave Armageddon's Blade, and there was also Armageddon's Blade in the shop. Bad luck, as they say.

Hmm, I forgot to ban Armageddon in the second mission. Well, as an alternative, you could allow Shock Earth.

Well then, the campaign is complete. The funniest part is that it took 307 days—exactly as long as it took Remix to finish it.

First Mission. A kind of blooming paradise where you enjoy Zahar's works, utilized in the best possible way. The mission isn't difficult, but while you're figuring out what this version of the Sanctuary is all about, you can still take some hits. I didn't know about the trick with the hero inside the city, so it turned into a siege-style gameplay. But overall, I liked the mission, except that there's significantly more experience here than Akihoto can hold. And I likely missed a couple of set items, as I was stubbornly prevented from venturing far from the city. Eh, Nazar's mods and a good mapmaker's hand really do create wonders! It's a pity Nazar eventually stopped making them for quite understandable reasons.

Second Mission. A mission for leveling up heroes and nothing more. The enemy is own conditional. There's just enough experience for level 21 between the two of them. Mentor, spell sources. Just roll back and skip turns to get the build you need. Half an hour with money and teleport cheats was spent on machines for Seimi. But in the end, it was worth it. Though deep down I condemn this: usually, the opportunity to over-level at the right time is given in any mission if the campaign is build-dependent—and this one is very build-dependent. And yes, there is a mentor in the fourth mission. But at the end of the game.

Third Mission. Very simple with the right build: Logistics, Light. With regen, no one will take even a single Naga from you, and with logistics, you'll manage not only to finish within a month but also pick up most of the goodies. Of course, it's completely obvious where the same exit point is. Therefore, at first I just ran around the map until I understood where the beginning was and where the end was, so that I could then start a proper walkthrough. Not the most interesting mission; some hints are needed as to which part of the map the exit is generally located in. Otherwise, Akihoto would have wandered there blindly for years in reality) I warmed up with the demons in the underground.

Fourth Mission. The hardest mission, because the fifth is short, and here you have to play until the X points forever. With machines, I still couldn't rush the Temple, but a new build saved the day. I gathered an army of undead, bought everyone out before the upgrades, immediately took out the demons, and with a slightly battered army, headed straight for the orange player. My Necropolis was taken: new ones were needed because I intended to play specifically as undead. Vlad first cut me off (since there's no logistics—machines replaced it), then I eventually locked myself in one Necropolis where there was a bunch of unbought undead. I didn't have money for them, but I still managed to assemble a large pack of High Liches. Vlad went on the assault with two squads of 300 Vampires, 400 own same ghosts, 800 Skeletons, and various small fry. With the help of an OP enchanted ballista and the massive damage of Liches at full power, Vlad fell, and losses were minimal. Next, I caught the second undead hero with a small army. And then Orson arrived. His army was almost a copy of Vlad's, but instead of Vampires he had Liches and Banshees, and no Heavenly Shield, which Vlad played around with. Another assault with slightly higher losses, and after that everything went according to plan. Second Necropolis, buying out some of the orange player's unbought units, third city, a couple more victories over Vlad and Orson. Orange finally lost. I have a hundred Liches, a pack of Vampires, everything is super. Akihoto is sitting in the Sanctuary city almost without an army. I was waiting for purple, but I didn't know he lacked samurai honor to such an extent. Not only did a samurai with an army larger than the main purple hero come from the rear toward the defenseless Akihoto, but the author also created the most underhanded one-way portal in the history of Heroes 5. At first I didn't understand this: I got lucky and the purple chieftain appeared exactly at the city where the necromancer Seimi was stationed. On the third try, I defeated him. Destroying the catapult (once it knocked down the city gates in the first second of battle), picking off shooters with the ballista, etc. But he immediately returned with reserves and this time ended up at another city. And then Akihoto ran into this city, while behind him was the second purple army, which, by the way, ignored the empty starting city. Somehow through intrigues with the city portal, Seimi managed to get into this unfortunate city, and for the next twenty minutes I tried to position Akihoto so that he wouldn't be reached by the main purple force, while the second army attacked the city rather than our brave samurai. On the fifth attempt, it worked. Both purple armies were defeated. But he returned again with 1 Vanidzame. In the end, I stopped purple's super-aggression by placing small garrisons in all cities. But a samurai with one shark kept running around until the end of the game, killing caravans, capturing dwellings, etc. Then he bought ghosts and killed himself against a city. I had to replay and buy more troops for the garrison. That's how he cursed at me while I passed by with an already huge army of various undead. Not a single dwelling was upgraded. The undead received samurai rights. A letter arrived in Seimi's mail with respect and honor from a certain Lord A., offering her to become his general in Erish and kill a certain Saret/Saref. I was building reputation. Some I killed, others I spared. In the end, it resulted in 8\8 reputation and a quest involving placing a verse on a tree. I chose Tears, deciding that Prayer is better since it's free. Later I regretted this. Because Akihoto, not understanding necromantic democracy, decided to challenge purple to a duel. And that was pain, because the purple priestesses always went first, having 4 less initiative than mine, lol! I hope on the path of Blood one could treacherously break through the garrison and kill everyone) Anyway, this Naga is shady; he changed sides with the speed of a naga. Strange that he didn't stab Akihoto in the back in the fifth mission. In general, I don't like this mission. Too long an introductory part, too annoying a purple player with his cheating portal to a random city. There was also a yellow samurai. I told him I was for world peace, and he laughed and went to drink tea. I shrugged, killed him, drank the tea, and took the city. For this, I was given a bunch of points in Tears. Apparently, killing ronin is merciful. In the end, purple solemnly assured me that samurai like me are the future of the nation, so "go fight alone." So I went. And my undead armies remained to rule the lands of this very same purple player.

Fifth Mission. A small mission named after pain. In terms of puzzles, only at first did I choose the wrong spelling of Shantiri, because I recently played a campaign where the author wrote it exactly as it was incorrect, brrr. And I didn't kill Horror on the first attempt, but if anything, here is the panacea: single-unit Titans, slow, sorrow, and then a destruction beam until the first two casts wear off. Reapply them and then more beams. It might not be lucky, of course) And so the heroes are at the Naga-Lich. Ironically, his orange undead armies have long since obeyed my will, and I've already sent a reply with respect and honor to Lord A. Therefore, Seimi immediately suggests befriending the bro-lich, but stubborn blockhead Akihoto decides to beat him up. The battle isn't the easiest if you want to win without losing 50-75% of your army. And after the tragic death of the Erish Alliance Hero Zhenyang, it's Fenrig's turn—it's unclear why he is here and not Menelag, since Fenrig hasn't really left Saret for the last two decades. And in general, it seems to me that in all fan campaigns, the power and malice of both demon-worshippers are greatly exaggerated: their same summon demons and great power from Dark Messiah seem to have failed them. Well, what can be said about Fenrig. Honestly, I didn't defeat him. I don't feel like going back to over-level anything; I only have enough strength for half of Fenrig, and the losses among the undead are too painful. Plus his Armageddon with pyrokinesis and summon demons... In short, I didn't want to replay the battle with purple just for the mentor in the fourth mission—may the author forgive me! Akihoto's strength proved insufficient. And Seimi, as a newly minted but already loyal student of Lord A., decided to carry out the Naga-Lich's order at any cost and no one saw her again. And then Akihoto spent a long time explaining to all the daimy why half of Hashima is now given to worker-skeletons and peasant-ghosts. Happy end with a setup for a sequel, which the author, as I understand from the comments, doesn't really want to make.

Although there are plenty of balance problems in this campaign, it is still unique, and will remain the first of its kind, even if my favorite Gerter finishes the dark dwarf campaign with his mastery as an original mapmaker. Samurai's Persistence is a very beautiful campaign, with a good plot woven into the lore of Heroes 5 and Dark Messiah, elegant use of cool high-quality mods from familiar modders in our community, good scripts, and decent implementation of interesting ideas. Gameplay-wise it's average and steps on many rakes, but then again, who doesn't. My rating is high regardless, and I received a lot of pleasure.

Additional. Once I wanted to be the first to use Sanctuary for a scenario, heh-heh) Moreover, I also intended to change the myrmidons. To Yuki-onnas, as Zobr even made them but didn't finish. Maybe I'll pester him about them again. He has improved his skill since then; maybe he can implement them better. Because mermaids are a very vague unit. As are myrmidons, for that matter. Mermaids look good, no doubt, but gameplay-wise it's something strange. Not fitting the model. And as for tiers, I would place units differently. Priestesses with a focus on chain lightning are OP. All kenshi are not bad; kirins will do. But there are also weak units (gameplay-wise). However, I think all the balance was done by Zobr, and Zahar's units are just default from the mod, and Zobr as a balancer is not great) So it's not the author's fault. 10 exploding golems for your whole squad out of 10. Only the stream spirits have a weak model, but it's as old as time and clearly needs some rework.

Question: in case of need, can I take this mod pack as a basis? I will, of course, make changes. Zobr and Zahar certainly won't mind)

Thanks for the campaign! I'd be happy to test your future works)

8.5 Shalassa-chaos-necromancer priestesses out of 10

Added after 1 hour 36 minutes
A-a-a, Izura had a Faedan spec, lol. I didn't realize that.

This is an extremely well-written review, almost like a full-fledged article for some publication
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, it's best not to delay completing the fourth mission at the beginning, but I find it strange that it caused so many problems – I personally managed to complete it without a ballista for Seimi, only taking about a hundred warriors to support her at the Temple, and a moderately large group of ghosts. Looking back, I think the start of the fourth mission should have been combined with Akihito's transition and placed in the third mission; that would have looked more organic, but what's done is done.
In the fifth mission, you need to distribute the army and set artifacts wisely among the heroes, plus you get a set of necromancer artifacts for completing the mission with Zhenyang. I personally managed to complete the final battle on the Hero difficulty after two or three attempts.
And, of course, I wouldn't dare object to using my build in your work. After all, this build is the property of our entire community, not just mine. The main thing is that everyone involved is credited.

P.s. Zobr is not balanced here in terms of anything other than the hiring cost; the balance is based on the original Polish mod, with some changes from me, such as reducing the damage of the priest upgrade, adding the Channel alt-grade, and adjusting stats and changing the abilities of the Kensei with their improvements.

Great campaign, thank you. In the fourth mission, I was surprised by a rather unexpected event on the ship; I failed on the first attempt, but after restarting, I figured out how to hang "Divine Vengeance" on an arrow. When completing the dragon mission to cleanse the cities of the undead, the building with the dragons didn't appear. And one more thing: does the cutscene where the sister talks about tears and blood only make me laugh? I just want to reply to her with what I'm thinking: "It's a pity you're my sister." 😋 Great campaign, write more!

Great campaign, thank you. In the fourth mission, I was surprised by a rather unexpected event on the ship; I failed on the first attempt, but after restarting, I figured out to attach "Divine Vengeance" to an arrow. When completing the dragon mission to cleanse the cities of the undead, the building with the dragons did not appear. And another interesting thing: does only I find the video where the sister talks about tears and blood funny? I just want to reply to her with what I'm thinking: "It's a pity you're my sister." 😋 Great campaign, write more!

Thank you for your feedback. The guards on the islands of the ships and the temple on the water are from Zakhar's mod, which can be found here on the forum and downloaded separately. The Dwell may not have appeared because there might have been a hero standing in the place where it should have appeared; I didn't want to simply take and block the area, but it seems I'll have to take this into account if I write such a script anywhere else.

In the second mission, as soon as I move the camera to focus on some neutral creatures with tentacles, the game crashes. How can I fix this?

In the second mission, as soon as I point the camera at some neutral creatures with tentacles, the game crashes. How can I fix this?

I have absolutely no idea. You are the first person to have this problem.