Posts from Hill of the Dead

A new version of the map has been released (version 1.2, 03/26/2023).

Main changes:
- Kaspar has been strengthened; he also now has his own combat script, which will make the battle with him a little more difficult.
- The garrison of the main city of the orange player has been slightly strengthened.
- The maximum level has been increased.
- In the main castle of the orange player, creatures of level 5 can be upgraded; whether to use this or not is up to the player.
- A number of other minor changes have been made to the map.

Sorry, I'll add my two cents. I don't know how Kaspar is buffed, maybe he starts with high vampirism and incredible stats. But if he's only slightly buffed, there are plenty of Hellhounds available – and here, poor Kaspar can even throw Hellhounds over the walls for a complete roasting. So, on the one hand, you're buffing Kaspar, and on the other, you're buffing the player's army and their level, which negates the first point. Well, how can you not take advantage of it when you can? You can, theoretically, set your own limits – for hardcore, I don't build beyond the Monks... but it seems a bit strange. After taking the orange [structure], it's relaxing anyway.

Player100, let me tell you right away that Kaspar has undergone some changes in terms of upgrades, and instead of Hell Horses, only Nightmares will be available. And although, as far as I understand, you haven't looked at the new version yet, you somehow guessed that vampirism would be involved in the battle. For Kaspar, it's not a general ability – that would be too much in this case – but one of his unique features is tied to it.
Of course, if you sit and build up your army, you will defeat the boss. But if you want a challenge, you can go straight to the battle after defeating the other players, and then it will be difficult. In the end, I left two options so that the boss wouldn't be from the category: "how is it even possible to beat him?!"

Yes, I confess, I haven't checked it out. Are there any "shamans" here? I looked in the editor, read the scripts, and now I understand everything, but unfortunately, I don't know how to do that myself. I don't really want to replay the whole thing right now. Well, at least you cheered me up with the "nightmares," letting the undead spit on their aura. It's a shame if an excellent map becomes unbalanced; the only problem was the simplicity of the last battle. I hope the changes will have a positive effect.

If desired, you can farm an army from five cities as much as you want before the final battle. How can we even talk about difficulty after that?

The so-called difficulty boils down only to the number of units you need to farm to overcome the effects of Kaspar's buffs. So, I don't really see the point in focusing on it. For me, the whole point of the map is the confrontation with the demons. Once they are defeated, the player is free to humiliate Kaspar as they wish. If they want, they can do it with small forces; otherwise, they can simply overwhelm him with numbers.

And this is quite easy to fix by making Kaspar's army dependent on factors rather than being fixed. However, there are too many cities available to the player on the map, and it's not that easy to come up with something truly reliable.

AstralLein, Kaspar's army isn't fixed; it grows gradually, albeit not at a rapid pace. Theoretically, it could be structured so that the growth rate depends on the number of towns under the player's control. However, there's a very fine line between making the map too difficult to complete. That's why I left two options: you can finish earlier, but it will be more challenging, or later, and it will be easier.
Again, on any map, if a player has an advantage in terms of troop growth from their towns, they will eventually win. You can adjust the boss's army growth rate so that it increases progressively, but this is a risky approach, as there's a high chance of making the map virtually impossible to complete.

I'm leaning towards the idea that Kaspar should just be ignored. With the resources of the defeated demons and his own, Agrail can simply wear down the enemy through attrition, which is ironic considering it's about undead.

I'm also leaning towards the idea that Kaspar should just be ignored. By utilizing the resources of the defeated demons, and his own, Agrail can simply wear down the enemy, which is ironic considering it's undead.

Essentially, that's what's happening, because he's partly fighting them to gain control of their resources to achieve his goals.

Besides, the map was quite decent even after a slight nerf to Grok. It's not worth spending energy on a "muscle-building" strategy for Kaspar; Necromancers don't like to increase their muscle mass... It's better to invest your efforts in continuing the game.

I'm also leaning towards the idea that Kaspar should just be left alone. With the resources of the defeated demons and his own, Agrail can simply wear down the enemy, which is ironic considering it's undead.

And technically, is it possible that after a certain time has passed since the orange city was taken, the Necromancer could summon a very powerful (depending on the game level) servant of Ash, not an overpowered one, but one capable of damaging the army a bit? And do this periodically. Let Kaspar finally rest in peace with honor.

The author of this scenario highly recommended it to me, and I'd be happy to share my opinion about it:

It's a pretty good challenge, reminiscent of the good old days of playing as Agrael, with a compelling storyline. This scenario really captures the vibe of the original Demon campaign in Heroes 5, as if I were playing those very missions as Agrael in a "the map hasn't even started, and they're already trying to crush me" format. The beginning of the scenario is quite challenging, but thankfully, I had some experience in "Demon vs. Demon" battles. If you can survive the first two months, you've essentially completed half of the scenario, and the rest of it is relatively relaxed, except for the finale. And that final battle... it's something else! Old Kaspar has gathered such massive armies while I was clearing the map that I only won on the fifth try, and that's great! It's not like in the "Lords of the Horde" campaign, where the final castle is guarded by an army that's easy to defeat; here, it's a real undead horde!

Overall, I recommend this wonderful scenario, which the author recommended to me, to other players! It's a great way to relive the good old days.

Thank you for the walkthrough! I'm glad you enjoyed the map and that it captured the vibe of the original.

I completed this scenario on Hero difficulty.

Walkthrough

If you capture the nearest town (Ur-Ishin) at the beginning of the game, enemy heroes will rush there. Because of this, it's better not to take the town right away; instead, the starting strategy is for Agrael to acquire the ballista skill and survive the initial onslaught from the brown player. Experience gained from neutral creatures is reduced on this map, so you need to defeat chests and capture them for experience. You can kite neutral creatures with cerberuses (and I know how to do that ). If you're unlucky with finding machines, it's probably better to restart... but I was lucky, and after that, I captured Ur-Ishin and built a forge. Two demons arrived, but I simply shot them down with the ballista. After that, Agrael roamed the map, captured towns, and bought troops, but while capturing one town, the opponent takes others. And here's the key idea: organize everything so that the orange player recaptures the towns, not the brown player! It's easier to fight this way than when one player controls all the castles. The brown player cannot take towns from the orange player because they are allies. Therefore, I didn't touch Grog and killed the brown heroes who could capture the town before him. There are many enemy heroes, but almost all of them are weak. I had extra gold, so before the next town was lost, I bought a hero from the tavern, attacked, surrendered, bought him back in another castle, and transferred the troops to Agrael. Gradually, Agrael gathered a sufficient army to capture a town in the Dungeon, then reclaimed two towns on the surface, and blocked Grog in the third: Agrael occupied the bridge, Grog didn't attack, but simply stayed in the castle because, according to the computer's assessment, he was weaker than Agrael. After accumulating an army from three towns, Agrael killed Grog (for the first time in the game), and I was satisfied with the losses in the auto-battle. After that, Agrael blocked Grog's exit (orange garrison). Again, I accumulated an army so that even a secondary hero could block the exit. After that, Agrael easily fought neutral creatures, visited upgrade locations, and collected artifacts; he took the Call of Urgash from the mentor. Next, he attacked Wayer's town, and I almost defeated him without losses using only gates. After that, I went to Kaspar, and along the way, 208 undead joined. I won the battle against Kaspar on the first try. Victory in 169 days.

The scenario is well-designed, and I liked the overall concept. I especially want to note the cutscenes: they don't just show characters standing and talking; they also show battles of large armies! In terms of gameplay, I found that the strategic map is challenging, but the battles are easy (I also defeated Kaspar without any problems). It's a good scenario; I enjoy playing as the demons . RailagMalassaWarrior, thank you for the recommendation! And to the author, IchGViji...
Thank you very much for the map!

Magnificent, thank you very much for the walkthrough and detailed feedback! It was very interesting to read – before this, most players complained that Grok was the biggest nuisance on the map, but you managed to find a way to neutralize him. As for the two hundred undead, I thought I had set all the undead to aggressive behavior, but I probably missed a group, and it remained with a neutral setting. Thank you for pointing that out. And I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario

As for the two hundred undead, I thought I had set all undead to have aggressive behavior, but I probably missed it in the pack, and they remained neutral. Thanks for letting me know.

I replayed the final battle without undead, and I also won quite easily on the first try.