Posts from The Lord is more alive than dead Auto-translated

Title: "The Sovereign Is More Alive Than Dead"
Name: "NikolasRemarsh"
Size: 176x176 Large
Underground: yes
Type: scenario
Number of players: 4 (1 vs 3)
Faction: Necropolis
Starting heroes: Nicholas, Stefan
Required Heroes 5 version: 3.1 only (Tribes of the East) !
Current map version: 1.3
Date of last update: 26.06.2026
Author: Koschei the Deathless


Acknowledgements:
- forum members RedHeavenHero, AstralLein, MasteR, Jack_of_shadows, AlekseyS, Markel the Imperor, Remix, Sashager, Novik, psatkha;
- developers at Nival Interactive, as well as the creators of HoMM5 Map Scripts Editor (HSerg, Valex, Romzes).

Special thanks: }{0TT@6bI4 (aka Hottabych), Gerter, Andrei_21, IchGViji, Grigory Kovalev, zahar0z (aka Zahar), [email protected] (aka Zobr), Narron.

Manuals, guides, maps, mods and other works of these people became the foundation, as well as a source of inspiration for my work, for which they deserve rays of goodness and respect.

Description: While Markal was dealing with the demonic expansion and rebels in the Griffin Empire, he tasked the resurrected Nicholas with invading Irollan and dealing with those insurgents who had fled to the elves. However, the military campaign that seemed like a walk in the park clearly went wrong when the legions of the undead were stopped under Syris Thalla and pushed back to the southwestern border of the forest kingdom. Now Findan is preparing a decisive counterstrike, and the vampire lord faces a dilemma: silently accept the fate destined for him, or try to cheat his Final Death, already the second one in a row...


From the author: This is my first map, and its events take place roughly during the "Vampire Lord" mission (the forest elf campaign), but from the perspective of the other side of the conflict. At first, I wanted to extract the map from the original part of the game and rework it for itself... Unfortunately or fortunately — depends on how you look at it — that fell through, so I ended up creating it for the second expansion. From scratch, so to speak. The idea of getting a kind of "rematch" of that very mission had been brewing in my mind for quite a long time and demanded to be realized, although in principle I like any well-made story maps based on the lore of Heroes 5. Keep in mind, "The Sovereign..." is a trial of the pen, so don't expect great wonders from the story. But if in the end some of the old-timers shed a nostalgic tear, that's already a success. The map is large, and there's a lot of rough terrain on it, so logistics is your friend, especially at the start. That's about it, feel free to throw slippers/hats at me, just don't toss me into a thorn bush! =)

Warnings:
1. The map contains built-in mods (inside the "h5m" file itself) and uses third-party mods in conjunction ("pak" file), as well as a bit of scripts! Therefore, it's better to install it on a "clean" version of the game and remove other maps from the "Maps" folder for the duration of the playthrough!
Among the third-party ones, in particular, there are mods for:

a) a wide window for text messages (taken with Gerter's permission from his scenario);
Link to the map – /topic/14423/

b) faction gates (author Hottabych);
Link to the source – /topic/15478/

c) visuals (textures, models) for death knights, manticores, and 4 types of elementals (author Narron);
Link to the NVS project – https://vk.com/homm_ashan
Masters ArchWarlock, Hannik, Samurai, Zobr, Zahar, and artists Sveta Nero (formerly S.Nero), L'Garold also took part in its creation. Not all are listed, as this modification is used partially.

d) textures for the mummy, its icons, and the pyramid (author Zahar);
Links to the sources – https://vk.com/wall-40470309_2605 , https://vk.com/wall-40470309_2626

e) replacement of zealots with spearmen from Heroes 6 (author Zahar);
Link to the source – https://vk.com/wall-40470309_1359
The attack animation timing editing was done by vova2112.

f) replacement of wolves with elven archers from NCF (author psatkha, jointly with mDance);
Link to the source – https://psatkha.narod.ru/creature_433.html

g) replacement of unused yetis with vampire guards (author Koschei the Deathless).

If you already have similar unit replacement mods for ids 108, 113, or 114, it's best to remove them first to avoid bugs!

2. Don't rush to sell some set and high-level artifacts (for example, the Cloak of Death's Shadow, magic school tomes, etc.) — they may exist in a single copy!

3. Old saves (meaning from earlier versions) of the map will most likely work unstable/with crashes/with previous errors on later versions, and vice versa — also (see the "Changelog" section)! When an "upgrade" comes out, it's better to delete all previous saves and start over if you want to avoid surprises. Which are 100% guaranteed when launching the map in game v3.0 and below (see the required Heroes 5 version)!

Forbidden:
1. Alternative upgrades of creatures in towns and hill forts (this does not apply to armies under a neutral flag).

2. Spells: "Magical Immunity", "Instant Travel", "Vampirism", "Vessel of Shalassa".

Installation: From the downloaded zip archive, move the NikolasRemarsh.h5m file to the "Maps" folder (if it doesn't exist, create it), and NikolasRemarsh_mods.pak to the "data" folder of the installed game.
Both components must be installed! The NCF core is not required. There will be a slight delay at startup (the script will be loading), just wait it out.

Uninstallation: Remove the NikolasRemarsh.h5m and NikolasRemarsh_mods.pak files from the aforementioned folders.
It is recommended to do this immediately after completing the map due to its impact on other maps/mods!


Feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism are welcome. Enjoy the game!

Changelog: attached in a docx file in the zip archive via the link below (it didn't fit here, as the number of characters there already exceeds the limit for a single message).

Download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PlBq9cBd-0VkEb6nFnVH1Ijn8sn4uwMI?usp=sharing

Screenshots: 

Wow, you guys are really on a roll! Two maps in two days! And what maps! And this one is for the Necromancers! I'm off to get Bayrother. Alright, this map is going to be completed today. Whew!

elizbar1967, I wish you good luck in your walkthrough!

I'm playing through it. It's very interesting. I didn't quite understand. Will Vampire Guards join you in places other than the portal? I'm thinking about whether to rely on them or leave them in the Castle.

Added 1 minute ago
Stefan, with his Death Knight summoning, is simply a machine for destroying Elves.

Joining - no. But they can be obtained by upgrading the higher vampires in the citadel of Irib-Ishkun (a tower roughly in the center of the western lands). Place a stack at the portal to see what they are and what they're about =) Whether to use them or not is up to the player.

And is the "Machine Operation" skill not blocked? It's quite good in the early stages, especially with a mentor, of course. Do you have a mentor?)) It's like a transfer from those times – I want to know everything!))

Not blocked, feel free to use it. There are even two mentors. 

I'm running around the ghost dragons, but I can't seem to defeat them. The game is very interesting! I haven't felt this much excitement in a long time.

If you mean the Guardians of the Shroud of Eternal Night — they aren't meant to be taken by the player. On the contrary, it's the AI that will try to crush them, and your task is to prevent it from reaching them. This is mentioned at the very end of the description of the bonus quest for the shroud.

Decided to start over. Will I get the Necromancer set? I've explored the entire map, but nothing has appeared.

Only the Cloak of Death's Shadow, perhaps (since a quest for the Vampire Guards is tied to it). The other artifacts were pocketed by Markal. He spent most of his campaign obtaining the set - the Amulet alone took him at least a whole mission to acquire, and the Ring of the Unrepentant - just as long. My map is tied to the Nival storyline, and it would be strange if Nicholas found all 4 artifacts at the nearest smuggler around the corner)

Well, I already got the cloak. Interestingly, I already have five artifacts from the dragon set. I'm heading towards the Castle of Magic. I cleared the outpost. My army isn't very strong, though. This isn't like playing as Markel.

I completed the map and really enjoyed it. Considering that the map is very similar to the map from the final elf mission, as the author himself wrote, the location of all castles, except for the magic academy, is known in advance. There was a very interesting battle in the pyramid; at that time, I was playing solo with vampires, and I had to clear everything with battle mages. The map itself is not difficult because the second hero has an overpowered "Knight Summon" ability, which helps to quickly clear the starting location. The vampires are also quite overpowered (although they are expensive), and the "Vampirism" spell is available. In general, the enemies have few resistances, so it's quite easy to clear everything (only the "Spell Deflection" ability of the mages prevented me from clearing it without losses). To balance the game, as the author wrote, the "Mentorship" skill was reduced; otherwise, the armies would become too strong. For both main heroes, I leveled them up using the standard "Darkness" and "Summoning" skills. The Death Knight was stationed on the "Dragon Defense" and army accumulation from a certain stage. I also have a small question for the author: I was too lazy to test what would happen if I didn't give the ring to the Sphinx dragon. Thank you also for placing the last obelisk near the prophet, so the quest could be completed quickly without having to run across half the map. It's also interesting that the prophet talks about the elves keeping the dwarf king's set for themselves, and indeed, there are two pieces of it with each of the two heroes. It was a bit tedious to bring the upgraded vampires to the main hero and play with him without a cloak, as this artifact is necessary for the hero's leveling. Also, regarding the vampires, I noticed a small bug/feature: if there were only vampires in the army during leveling, the hero receives one additional higher vampire. I didn't quite understand why there was a portal to the supply line behind the mage and what changes after the caravan is destroyed. There are also quite a few stat-boosting locations on the map; Nicholas ended up with 40 attack points. Regarding the finale, thanks to the teleport near the elf city, I quickly reached the castle, took the armies with Nicholas, and saw that Faidaen's threat level was low. I was already afraid that I would have to chase him across the map, but thank you to the author for giving him a script to rush the Necropolis cities. I can't call the battle difficult; the only threat is the upgraded version of the elf archers. Otherwise, it was fun to watch how, when playing defensively, 600 vampires were added every couple of turns. I also want to note the interesting battle with the elves, during which a new pack appears when they are killed, and again, this is either a bug or a feature: the "Vampire Swarm" ability worked on the newly appeared pack after the previous one was killed in one hit. There are also a couple of minor details that fit in well: the mummy's specialization with a screenshot from "Sapper," the elemental models from the 6th part, the dragon sneezing with Armageddon, the gates that can be opened and closed at will to save the hero, the ambushes are similar to those in the "Sacred Grove" map, but unfortunately, it's much easier to get rid of them here than in the aforementioned map. I can't say for sure whether I was just lucky or the author tried hard, but there were quite a few creatures on the map that could be resurrected as vampires.

Overall, the map is very good, even though it borrows the original campaign as a basis. It reminded me of the "Another Side" series of maps for Warcraft 3. I express my great gratitude to the author for the work done and for adding scenarios for my favorite faction.

PingWing, thank you for the walkthrough! Regarding the sphinx — if you don't give it the Ring, it will slightly spoil the bonus from the full Dragon set. As for the bug with the vampire upgrade — I'll look into it, it's related to the script functions for removing/adding units. Regarding the portal to the supply line — a caravan with reinforcements spawns from there for the mages (plot justification — the elves are helping them too), and destroying it will simply deprive the "academics" of extra troops, that's all. As for the "assault" on the guardian vampires — that's a feature built into the game mechanics for that ability, I had nothing to do with it)
Glad you enjoyed it, so all those references I left weren't in vain :)


Added after 3 minutes
Fellow forum members, if it's not too much trouble, it would be nice to know things like:
- what difficulty level you played the map on;

- suggestions for improvement (I can't promise all of them will be implemented, but still);
- and balance, bugs, and typos, of course.

All of this will allow me to release better "upgrades" later.

P.S. And also — what maps are people playing most right now? I, for instance, don't do multiplayer, but singles and story campaigns (especially in the alternate history genre) — that's another matter. But which direction is better — epic (a la "Battle of the Celestial Gates") or RPG (a la "Hero's Path") — that's the question.

Regarding the difficulty, I played through it on Veteran mode. I also forgot to mention earlier that I liked the fact that the main character tries to resist becoming undead (again, a reference to the original, where he didn't want to become undead himself), and also that all the non-standard heroes have their own backstories.

Also, regarding the set, as I understand it, based on the presence of artifact shops, it can theoretically be collected while also fulfilling the Sphinx's conditions (although I never got the ring, so maybe it can only be obtained in the pyramid). As for suggestions, I would suggest making Faidan more difficult as the final boss, because even without specifically farming an army, he is defeated very easily.