Posts from Wisdom of Demons

Title: Demons' Wisdom
Map name: Demons' Wisdom
Map type: Scenario
Size: 136x136 (medium)
Dungeon: no
Number of players: 2
Game version: 3.1
Map author: Magnificent

Description:
The scholars of the Silver Cities have made great progress in studying demons. They love to talk about their achievements, but they try not to discuss how the knowledge was obtained. I will tell you about what the mages usually don't remember...
This story is about a demoness named Laura, who chose a demonic Fortress near the lands of the Silver Cities as the location for her research. The mages considered her scientific pursuits too dangerous and declared war on her. Laura did not have enough strength to resist an entire state, and she had to find a way to negotiate peace. To achieve this goal, she needs to meet with Narhiz, one of the most influential scholars in the Silver Cities. Laura is ready to share valuable knowledge about demons with him in exchange for the mages ceasing their aggression.

From the author:
A long time ago, when I played Heroes 5 a lot, I tried to create maps, but they were quite simple, for myself. This year, after a long break, I returned to the game, decided to learn the editor better, and create a scenario with a plot and scripts (I was pleasantly surprised that there is now much more information available on the editor). That's how this map came about.
During testing, I completed the scenario on all four difficulty levels. I tested it on version 3.1, without mods. The game requires version 3.1, as I use script functions that are not available in 3.0.

Map features:
- main heroine with a new specialization (portrait and biography)
- presence of scripts and dialogues

Acknowledgements:
Jack_of_shadows and }{0TT@6bI4 for creating useful guides on the map editor.

Map versions:
Demons’ Wisdom.h5m – the original version of the map (the version that Niksan completed on stream).
Demons’ Wisdom v1-1.h5m – version with Mentor and Spellbook (added at the request of players), otherwise it is no different.
Both versions work correctly; you can play either one.

I will be glad to receive comments. I wish everyone a pleasant game!

It's been a while since there were new story-driven maps on the forum. And this one has a good design, and the plot, judging by the map description, is unusual and interesting. I think it's worth finding out more about Laura's story.

Good mini-scenario. Minimal dialogue, everything is clear (interactive hints are present), without unnecessary embellishments, and I didn't encounter any bugs. In the end, I got 2% of the best items and defeated the Chaos Knight, even though summoning spells rarely dropped anywhere, but that's understandable. Thank you for the game!

A quick and relaxing map, but it’s always nice to see something new on this semi-forgotten site =)

Midway through, I got a bit tired of these demons and their gates, so I decided to level up an Orc through mentoring to just mindlessly attack, and things became noticeably more fun)

It seemed to me that the map ended too quickly, and the finale turned out to be quite unexpected? There was still about 1/8 of the black map left, and I thought there would be some kind of super-final battle, but it turned out that all you have to do is talk to a guy on the side of the road with sphinxes, and that’s it, the end...

But overall, the map is very enjoyable; author, make more ;P

Excellent scenario map. Added to karma.

It's been a while since there were new story-driven maps on the forum. And this one has a good design, and the plot, judging by the map description, is unusual and interesting.

Good mini-scenario. Minimum dialogue, everything is clear (interactive hints are present), without unnecessary embellishments, I didn't encounter any bugs.

But overall, the map is very enjoyable, author, keep creating more!

Excellent story-driven map. Plus to your karma.

Thank you all very much for playing and for your feedback! I'm very glad that you liked the scenario!

Hello, could you please share a video of you completing this map on the highest difficulty level? I would like to watch it, as I don't know how to play.

https://youtube.com/live/MsG0Sc9Ld4M?feature=share. Stream of the "Wisdom of Demons" scenario. Alternative: https://www.twitch.tv/niksan_yt

Added 5 hours and 10 minutes ago
The scenario is good. Rating: 10/10. The author did a great job; the plot, gameplay, and map design all meet the standards for a scenario. I wish you good luck in the future and look forward to new maps.

I played as the "hero" and completed the game in 60 days. It's a good, well-made map, without unnecessary complications, and everything is to the point. I enjoyed it, and I want to thank the author. The map is brilliantly designed up to about the middle of the game. The second half is more about running around. I wasn't particularly interested in reaching level 28. The map after the battle near the academic castle is a very strange decision. This section takes up about a fifth of the space, but you only need to go through it with the hero. What's drawn and placed there for the game doesn't matter. The battle with Alvir is set up as a complete trap for the academic hero. In the field, the demons are much stronger than the mages, who have more ranged units and focus on magic. As a suggestion, the map needs a mentor. At the start and at the end of the game, the demon requires completely different skills. I started playing by leading the demon towards chaos to quickly deal with the neutrals. But it turned out that there are no key spells, and you can't get rid of the ability. I had to start over. It would be good to add a dwelling of imps for the demon at the start.

https://youtube.com/live/MsG0Sc9Ld4M?feature=share. Stream of the "Wisdom of Demons" scenario. Alternative: https://www.twitch.tv/niksan_yt

Added 5 hours 10 minutes ago
The scenario is good. Rating: 10/10. The author did a great job; the plot, gameplay, map design – everything meets the scenario standards. I wish you good luck in the future, and we look forward to new maps.

I watched it, and I really liked it! Thank you very much for the Walkthrough and the positive feedback!

Hello, can you send a video of you playing this map on the highest difficulty level? I want to watch it because I don't know how to play...

Watch the stream recording; it contains a complete Walkthrough on Hero difficulty. Thank you for playing my map!

I played on "Hero" difficulty and finished in 60 days. Good, beautiful work, without unnecessary complications, everything is to the point. I liked it; thank you very much to the author. Up to the middle of the game, the map is brilliantly designed. The second half is more of a race. Leveling up to 28 wasn't very interesting for me. The map after the battle near the academic castle is a very strange decision. This section takes up about a fifth of the space, but you only need to go through it with a hero. What is drawn and placed there for the game doesn't matter. The battle with Alvir is organized as a complete trap for the academic hero. In the field, the demons are much stronger than the mages, who have more ranged units and focus on magic. As a suggestion, the map needs a mentor.

Thank you very much for the detailed feedback! I'm glad you liked the scenario!

The part of the map that you traverse from Yumna to Narhiz can be important, even if the required level isn't reached after defeating Alvir. I experienced this on lower difficulty levels (even though the task requires a lower level than on Hero). This part of the map has neutral creatures that you can use to quickly gain experience.

The battle with Alvir was designed this way. In many scenarios, the enemy hero simply sits in a castle with an army that doesn't increase over time. Then, you can just accumulate a lot of troops and easily win. I did it differently: Alvir buys troops in Yumna every week, but the battle with him is always outside the castle. This way, simply accumulating an army becomes ineffective, but the player has the opportunity to win even with a numerical disadvantage.

It's clear that any map is easier to play with a mentor than without one.

The part of the map you traverse from Yumna to Narhiz can be important, even after defeating Alvir, if the required level hasn't been reached. There are neutral creatures in this part of the map that allow you to quickly gain experience.

That's what I wrote about. If there's no level limit for the hero, there's no need to bother with neutral creatures unnecessarily. It doesn't matter if a player's hero is level 27 or 20; the main thing is that they reached the destination and won. I could have won the key battle with a level 25 hero, but I lost about 5 days grinding for experience. The battles are completely uninteresting, repetitive, and just involve running around.

It's clear that playing with a mentor makes any map easier than without one.

This isn't about making the game easier or harder. When the map is large and there's an opportunity to develop at a leisurely pace, a mentor is a nice bonus. Here, it's simply necessary because the number of spells available to the player is very limited, and there's no time to think; you have to take what's available. The player will, in any case, find out what magic is available, either through cheats or by replaying from the beginning – what's the point of such unnecessary complications?

The map is good, but it was frustrating. There's a lot of randomness. I'm not a racist, but I don't really like demons, and I'm not very good at playing as them. For me, the start on Hero difficulty was incredibly tough, so I struggled and switched to Veteran. I found that most of the neutral creatures are random, and on Hero difficulty, I was also incredibly unlucky (they were all fast, had high initiative, and were weak), and nothing good dropped as loot. In general, I completed the first part on Veteran, then I looked at it again – it was already manageable – and decided to finish the Hero difficulty playthrough, using cheats for the castle, and then continue on my own. Conditionally, the second part is easier; without guidance, it would have been difficult to complete in 12 days – it's a very short time, the distances are large, and the heroes are powerful and diverse; a level 5 creature wouldn't be able to handle it. At least a sextant should have been somewhere. People have already written about the random spells. The ending was a bit disappointing. I expected that, as a result of behind-the-scenes negotiations, I would have to eliminate the leader of the "war party." Something like: "I will, of course, do everything I can, but there are some hawks here... I can't influence them; organize it yourself, however you know how, and in the end, I will push through a peace agreement."
In summary, the map is excellent (it was difficult for me, but that's because I'm a bad demon lord, and the horns get in the way), there are some minor complaints, but that's not a big deal... And not a single bug, not even a minor one!

I played through the game with a hero, simply taking 40 attack and 40 knowledge stats, and spells weren't even needed. True, I got firearms at level 28 (perfect timing). The beginning was interesting, then another 2-3 battles near the portal where the mages spawn. After that, even a level 1 hero could easily defend the city with a large army. I just used auto-battle to clear everything. Actually, the mages started to become a problem around the 4th or 5th time I entered. I think it could be limited to 2-3 spawns from the portal.

I completed the scenario, and my overall impressions are positive – it has an interesting plot, good design, and enjoyable gameplay. As for suggestions, it would be nice to add a mentor on some island. I wanted to develop my skills in the Haven faction: the Light magic was tempting, but there were no free skill slots left... Perhaps it would also be good to remove the weekly creature limit, but that's not a major issue, just a "nice to have."
I would be interested to know if a continuation of this scenario is planned. In any case, excellent work, thank you to the author!

I don't know, I couldn't manage anything in Heroes. The mages were overwhelming, throwing chaos spells at me. I couldn't leave without taking losses. And I didn't get lucky with the leveling up either. As a result, for the battle with Altrus (or whatever his name was), I had about 16 Archdevils, 30 Lords, and Knights, 200 Demons, Demonesses, and Imps, and about 100 Hellhounds. And he had about 1000 Goblins, 300 Mages, 80 Rakshasa, 50 Titans, and so on. I didn't even have time to move; he crushed me in one turn.