Posts from Island of a small skull

Name: Island of a small skull
Map name: Island of a small skull
Size: XL
Two-level map: yes
Difficulty level: Very difficult
Description: Capture the city of "Death" on Skull Island.
Map author: Samatron

Please leave information about bugs, tips, and comments here. Good luck to everyone.
Attention! The map was re-uploaded on 07/21/10 with corrections for identified shortcomings.

The map is interesting, but there is a major flaw and some minor shortcomings!!! ...which makes it easier to complete.
Firstly, the towers with questions are placed poorly, which means you don't have to fight Sandro, and the portal to another dimension appears in the middle of the game (after capturing the Grevraven Castle)!
Also, there are too many artifacts. You can collect the composite artifacts multiple times (( But overall, the map has a good idea! Thank you!

The map is interesting, but there is a major flaw and some minor shortcomings!!! ...which makes it easier to complete.
Firstly, the towers with questions are placed poorly, which means you don't have to fight Sandro, and the portal to another dimension appears in the middle of the game (after capturing the Greven's Castle)!
Also, there are too many artifacts. You can collect the set artifacts multiple times (( But overall, the idea of the map is good! Thank you!

You're welcome. And thank you for your comment! I will fix all the shortcomings mentioned above as soon as possible.

So, I started playing. It's immediately clear that the map isn't "impossible": there are plenty of resources, although, of course, I'd like more gold:), but you can get it by selling "extra" wood, mercury, sulfur, etc.
First question: you can't approach the monolith near Medvedevsk. Is that intentional?
I reached the garrison, looked at the guards: it seems I need another two weeks to gather an army and build up strength... But at the same time, it protects against enemies... for now.

Question 1. It's impossible to approach the monolith near Medvedevsk. Is this intentional?

No, this is a bug, and it has already been fixed.

I’m almost finished with this map. Once I’m done, I’ll give a detailed review. Right now, I want to talk about two bugs I encountered (I’m playing Heroes of Might and Magic, maybe they don’t exist in a clean version of the game). Has anyone else played through it? Did you experience the same thing? I’ve checked both of them several times: each time, it’s the same. 1. In the battle with Inteus, the phoenixes are resurrected twice! That is, there are initially 300 of them, I kill them – 60 are resurrected (as it should be), I kill them again – and another 60 get up! And only then can I kill them permanently! 2. A little later, I summon a boat, and it appears on land! Moreover, it can appear in one cell or another! I calmly get into the boat, and I calmly sail out to sea. But I can also sail on land – although not very far! I don’t understand what’s going on. I examined this area in the editor – as far as I can tell, everything is normal there. It’s a miracle!

I asked a question on the WoG forum, and they explained everything to me:
1. A WoG feature: creature skills gained with experience (how cool!).
2. The cursed terrain in the editor is placed directly on the water.
And there are no miracles!

I asked a question on the WoG forum, and they explained everything to me:
1. A WoG feature: creature skills acquired with experience (how cool!).
2. The cursed land in the editor is placed directly on the water.
And there are no miracles!..

The boat is clear; in the editor, you can see that the cursed land is on the water, nothing strange about it. But WoG clearly adds complexity to your playthrough, forcing you to kill phoenixes twice ;)

samatron, I've already completed this map. I'll provide a review in the coming days. Regarding the cursed land, I think it was accidentally placed on the water (it's a shame that the editor allows this).

Regarding the cursed land, I think it was accidentally placed on the water (it's a shame the editor allows this).

Exactly.

The map is very impressive! Everything is great. I just couldn't manage to complete it 4 times...
Are the 2 castles at the bottom really impossible to open?

By the way, the most central castle could have been defended more strongly: at least 9999 dragons :)

And there is a CATASTROPHIC shortage of gold!

I was annoyed for half the game by these damn +15 demons... They were literally everywhere! I later destroyed the infernal castle with great pleasure. :D

Better late than never: here's the promised review (in brief). Spatal, which castles exactly were you unable to capture? Conflux and Necropolis in the southeast of the overland world? Indeed, the player cannot enter them – therefore, it is impossible to defeat everyone, only to capture the City of the Dead. I captured it, but I took a very long time to complete this map – longer than "Quest for the Lost City" before it. Regarding gold, I completely disagree with you. From the moment reinforcements arrive in the city of Medvedevsk (Shhh! It's a secret!), and for some time after, there really isn't enough money to ransom this huge army. But then! I captured all 4 Ramparts, and in them – treasure rooms! And gold started to accumulate like crazy! And after a few months, something terrible happened: overflow! There became more money than the maximum number (2^31-1, i.e., more than 2 billion)! And the numbers became negative! I had to load the last save from day 7 and use a WoG "feature" (which, for once, came in handy!): I destroyed all 4 treasure rooms and was able to finish the game. Yes, before the battles with Andra and Sandro, I spent a long time "leveling up" because I wasn't "strong" enough. Oh yes, I didn't capture Conflux, where the guardian requires 89/89/89/89, although I could have: I was already fed up and wanted to finish it as soon as possible. As for the imps: in my opinion, it's quite the opposite: I used them to "level up" the hero! Slowly but surely. Especially many of them gathered in the east of the overland world, where there is a lot of empty space. And also, Spatal: if you love "meat" so much, you will like the "Armageddon" map: before capturing the enemy's lair, you have to go through a garrison with 8000 azure dragons! http://heroesportal.net/maps.php?search=Armageddon (2nd in the list, author - Andrey stoyan)

Wow, money in the negative? :) I did everything the same way as you described, including the treasuries, but it was still tight... But how can you level up a hero with Imps? :) Level 52, you need to kill at least 1000 Imps to level up, so I just skipped them. Where there are 2 castles, there are also a lot of Phoenixes, dragons, and other creatures for leveling up... By the way, I didn't have enough money for these dragons (azure and rusty): I'm playing version 3.58, so they accumulate in my dwellings all the time... I'll try Armageddon, thanks! Oh, and by the way, the author's maps are good, but the plot is almost non-existent :( That's a bit sad...

Spatal, I meant "buffing" secondary heroes with Imps, while I leveled up the main hero in other places (I'll add more to the review later).

Here are some additional thoughts about my playthrough of this map.
What I liked:
I perfected the technique of restoring my army with Archangels, which allowed me to complete almost all battles against neutral armies without any losses.
I entered the city in the south, bypassing the guard (the previously mentioned bug), and learned the Dimension Door spell, but I only used it twice: the first time, I teleported to the southeast to gain experience by killing monsters around the green tent (I didn't want to go there from the northeast, as I didn't want to lose troops permanently by breaking through the powerful dragon guard on the cursed land). The second time, I teleported past the guard that requires a Sniper Bow: it's too useful an item, and I didn't want to part with it! :)
What I didn't like:
Instead of one large replenishment of the Medvedgrad garrison, it would have been better to have a dozen or so smaller, but regular, replenishments. I had to buy back that army for several months afterwards!
The hero is told in about twenty places: "You will die!" It gets annoying.
There's a lot of space filled with either mountains or nothing (in the east, where the word "Death" is).
And please fix the bug with the cursed land over water in the northeast! Although it doesn't hinder the playthrough.
Spatal, once again regarding money: I, on the contrary, had the problem of "What to do with all this money?" I built everything possible in the cities, hired all the troops in the cities and outposts - and the money kept accumulating! It's nice, though, to feel like a billionaire, even in "Heroes"! :)