Posts from Druid Island REMASTERED

Here it is.

Actually, here it is!
Many thanks to Ment for the technical support!
Finally, the map has become multiplayer, which means you can now play it with three friends.
This version is recommended because the map in its current state is much better suited for playing with real people, as the computer simply doesn't have enough "brainpower" to play it the way you'd like.
However, I also found this map quite interesting in single-player mode, although the computer doesn't use most of the tactical possibilities and behaves predictably, as usual.

The updated, latest version is now in Ment's post number 53, page 6, as you can see, and also in the first, title post. I've updated it for convenience.

I completed this map in one evening, playing as the Elves. I enjoyed the map – it’s quite interesting, but it would be good to have more obstacles, because after the Elven Ranger Ossir (the archers’ leader) accumulates enough Forest Archers, the game boils down to shooting everything that comes into view. And after capturing the Unicorn Horn Bow (guarded by a Forest Guardian before Tieru Hill) and the Ring of Swiftness, this hero becomes simply invincible, and battles are almost without losses:cool:. You turn the Forest Archers into Master Archers, and due to their high initiative and the absence of penalties when shooting, the Master Archers eliminate almost all opponents before they even have a chance to engage in combat:smile10:. Then you sail to the mainland and eliminate your opponents one by one, not allowing them to develop (the Orcs didn’t even manage to capture a second city).

And also – if the demons broke out of Hell according to the plot, then the map simply begs for an “underground” area where the demons should be placed and given not two, but five or six cities, and all the cities on the mainland should be given to the Orcs. Place a VERY strong garrison on the border of the underground area:smile51: or some kind of condition that requires time to fulfill (at least a month). Then the map might become even more interesting – IMHO.

But these are just suggestions, and in general, I really liked the map.:)

Thank you for your feedback. I want to say that playing as Elves on this map is the easiest, and increasing the number of monsters won't make the gameplay more challenging, either for them or for the other Factions. The map is primarily designed for Multiplayer, where the main battles should take place between players. The monsters on the map serve as a deterrent and as fodder for leveling up heroes. If you increase their numbers, you can certainly create intense and interesting battles directly with the monsters themselves, but this will significantly slow down the game in Multiplayer. The only thing that worries me in terms of balance for the Elves is that they have a very advantageous position. Neither the Orcs nor Inferno benefit from attacking the Elves until they have dealt with each other. Although they certainly have that option, and they can attack from two directions at once. This can greatly diversify the game and add an element of surprise. It all depends on how experienced the player is when playing as a particular Faction. So, what worries me is that while the Orcs and Inferno are theoretically fighting each other, no one will bother the Elves, and they can easily gain both a quantitative and tactical advantage by simply striking at one of the weakened players at the right time. Of course, I anticipated this, so the Elves' cities are located further away than the others, and the monsters on their territory are stronger. That is, it should take the Elves more time to level up than the others. But whether these measures are sufficient, or whether the Elves still need some adjustments, I don't know. If people report that in a network game, the Elves ultimately gain a significant advantage, I will definitely revisit this issue and then they will indeed face more obstacles, as you requested.

I really enjoyed playing as the Demons in this map. With his special abilities and initiative-boosting artifacts, he became a real monster. :)

By the way, with a hero and mega AI, I was defeated as the Demons on week 3. They attacked from both sides and caught me off guard.
Good map :)

Thanks! By the way, I also noticed that the third week is perhaps the deciding one, as attacks happen most often around this time. By the way, I was also defeated many times, even on veteran difficulty. Some people complain that it's easy to play, but if the computer doesn't lag, it's quite a dangerous opponent. By the way, I've never tried playing as a hero – you've really intrigued me now. How is it possible to be attacked from two sides? That is, both orcs and elves attacked at the same time? I've never had that happen. Usually, only one attacks, while the other stays at the base. P.S. Agrael is, of course, overpowered, although I myself used to play as Biara. After getting the Amulet of Mastery, she summoned such large groups by level 20 that it was incredible. However, I was still defeated by an orc playing as her sometimes. That's how it is.

2 Codenameray
Thank you for responding. I'm currently stuck on Dynasty for the second evening, but after reading your post, I think I'll drop it and play as the Orcs on your map (of course, in hero mode, I don't play any other way) - I'll let you know when I win (if I manage to).

...you've really intrigued me now. How is it possible to be attacked from both sides? Meaning, both Orcs and Elves attacked? I've never had that happen. Usually, only one attacks, while the other AI stays put at its base.

So, I rush with my Agrael to the Demon outpost, and my army is very small (I didn't have enough money, I spent it all on buildings and buying creatures in the starting castle), I see an Elven Alaron with a decent army on the other side of the outpost, I break into the starting castle, and just before I reach it, a Kujin from the Orcs with a very powerful army, artifacts, and stats attacks me, easily defeats me, and immediately takes my castle, and the Elf finishes off the other 2 unprotected castles on the same day. :smile21:
3 weeks, hero+megaAI xxl

Heh, as strange as it sounds, it’s more of a good thing than a bad thing. It means the computer isn’t as dumb as I thought.

It turned out to be even easier to play as the Orcs – I completed this map in half the time. If it took me two months and three days to play as the Elves, it took exactly one month less here.

Here are both final cutscenes:

Has anyone attacked you during all this time?
And how much has the computer improved?

No one had time to attack me :cool:; for the first two weeks, I developed peacefully. The first week was difficult—it helped that among the neutrals there were many cowardly goblins and clumsy demons, and the ballista helped a lot :) . I cleared almost my entire territory of neutrals, collected all the second batches from the castles and creature dwellings, boarded a ship, and went to crush the enemies. At that time, I had 9 cyclopes, about 20 wyverns, approximately 30 chieftains, 43 shamans, 170-something centaurs, 250-something goblins; I don't remember the number of orcs, as I hardly use them. All creatures were without upgrades—I only captured the second orc city at the beginning of the second week and it was empty :eek:; as for hauling creatures from all dwellings to the first city to upgrade them there, I simply didn't have the time or desire, and nowhere to put them since I hadn't upgraded a single structure in the first city—I only built everything and developed the town to the level of a Castle.
The warrior level was 26; I played as the runner (she's the first one in the final cinematic) named Argat. At that time, she moved magnificently—crushing neutrals along the way and gaining additional movement points, she managed to run from one castle to another in a single turn. To my surprise and pleasure, she boarded and disembarked from the boat without losing any time. I also maxed out her skills for operating machines and the ballista; it's a pity that throughout the whole game I never taught her to manage the HP tent, otherwise the war would have been without losses. Due to development and artifacts, her attack was 33, and defense was over 20.

The AI developed their cities very strongly—of course, they had three times more money at the start of the game :rolleyes: :
When I arrived at the Elves—and I sailed to them first (at the end of the third week)—they had only three or four things left to finish building in the city. Therefore, they had monsters with maximum upgrades, but I didn't check the player level; I think it was 12-15, because most of the mines and other trinkets on the island had not been captured, not even Tieru's bow and quiver had been won back (I took them myself) :) . At the moment of my arrival on the island, strangely enough, the demons were already there :eek: , and right before my eyes, a strong demon warrior wiped out a fairly strong elf warrior (I judge by the quality of the creatures in the army—both had advanced creatures; I didn't see the elf's level). I landed on the island and attacked the winner :smile13:; he fled without making a single move; I only managed to see his level, which was 16. During this turn, I almost reached the foot of Tieru hill—passing neutrals helped a lot (who, by the way, were all trying to join). When I passed the turn to the AI, the main elf warrior (rather, a red-haired warrior named Dirael) popped out of the teleport near Tieru hill and bolted to the city :cool: . The next day, I captured the bow and quiver and went to smash the city; as a result of the assault, I lost only a few dozen centaurs and slightly fewer goblins—which is understandable—the castle is always trying to pick off the shooters, and then there's the elf woman with her ice block :smile21:. One can conclude her low level from the fact that she used specifically the ice block and not the "aspen swarm," which she specializes in and, with good development, uses to wipe out a huge number of creatures.
After taking the city, I was informed that the elves were defeated :smile51:; I traveled to the pier by another route, clearing the other side of the island of monsters and visiting all three trees, raising the hero's level to 30 (I earned one from the assault), and boarded the ship (this all took me two days). I wanted to go to the upgrade tower—the tower where you can upgrade all creatures—but I decided it wasn't worth the time :smile38: .
In the elf city, I left a small elven garrison from captured dwellings and the remnants of that city army that the elf woman didn't have time to buy (probably didn't have enough money), and I hired a human warrior to lead the garrison (I wanted an elf, but there were only orcs or humans in the tavern).
Three more days later, Argat landed in the north on the demon mainland; during the following (fourth) week, I captured both demon cities—when I caught up with one of their strongest warriors, he immediately fled from me without a fight, which disappointed me greatly :eek: . The demons' first city had maximum development, but it only had a level 1 warrior with one monster; I took it without losses using only cyclopes, and the second one had only just been started (a ford and a few structures); I stormed it similarly :cool: .
The last strong warrior ran past me while I was storming the first city (he didn't have time to reach the city, so he bolted for the pier :D ). After capturing both cities, in three days I caught up with and destroyed him just as he managed to land on my territory. I destroyed him with the runner, although his landing at my home didn't worry me much, since during the absence of the main warrior (the runner Argat), I had managed to well-develop and supply with an army no smaller than Argat's the centaur shooter leader Heggesh, and he was ready to give the uninvited guest a warm welcome :smile51: .
Well, that's it in short :) .

Wow, what a battle report. Thanks.
Well, based on what you said, the situation on the map is always different. I've never had a demon swim towards an elf. Whenever I played as Orcs, a demon would always show up around the end of the third week, always level 21-24. Sometimes I would defeat it, and sometimes not. But the losses were always huge - about 3/4 of the army. If an elf showed up after that, the game would end because there was nothing left to defend with. Well, that's how it is...

I hope you enjoyed it.

I would like someone who played this map with friends to share their experience - how it is to play it with real people. As you can see, the computer doesn't pay attention to many things - it ignores mines, artifacts, etc. Of course, if you were playing against a real person, they would take the quiver and use it against you as intended. Then you wouldn't get away with just a few dozen centaurs.

Thanks again for the map, I really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll play as the Demons and write about it too, but I'll say right away that I don't like playing as Demons – they're just repulsive to me, as are the Undead.

Added 12 hours 45 minutes ago
I still couldn't resist and played as the Demons :smile32: :
As you can see, I completed it even faster than with the Orcs – by two whole days!
The battle was already interesting – on the 9th day, the cheeky Argath landed on my territory with the first batch of troops from her Castle – 1 Cyclops, 10 Chieftains, and a bunch of smaller units – I had to teach her a lesson with the help of 14 unupgraded Imps :smile16: (I saved the battle, I can upload it). Then, before the Orcs could recover, I launched a counterattack and wiped them out (both their heroes and Castles) – they had only one survivor left. But at the most inappropriate moment, the Elves appeared, who tried to land on my territory; they already had Dragons and other nasty creatures :smile41:. I had to have my main hero surrender to the last of the Orcs with the remaining troops :smile15:, after first defeating all of his monsters except for one. Hiring the first available hero in the Orcish Castle, I finished off the last Orc.
And in my main Castle, I hired the main heroine, the Demoness Debil (she's on the right in the final cutscene), with whom I fought and to whom I surrendered; I hired her, of course, with all her remaining troops. Gathering everything that had accumulated in the three Demon Castles in a week and a half, I went with the main heroine and, one by one, defeated both of the Elven heroes who had arrived :cool: – one at the pier, and the second I caught up with at sea – not far from the Elven bay where their port is; he realized that he had come to the wrong place :eek: and fled home. Then, not giving them a chance to recover, I landed on the shore and the next day captured the Elven Castle :D.

That's how the war for the third side ended :smile07:.

Oh, I completely forgot about the final cutscene – here it is: