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Today, I completed the “Battle of the Titans” map. Since GoedenDag wrote about the difficulties of completing it, I will briefly describe its features and my playthrough.
The XL map with a dungeon is a favorite arena for many for fierce battles, where there is a lot of everything a player could wish for: objects, monsters, artifacts, and in the end – a showdown with very strong opponents! And another pleasant moment: we play with an ally (Turquoise). True, the ally often gets in the way, but it's a little more fun with him. :)
In general, although there were concerns: would I be able to win? - in the end, the map turned out not to be so scary, although the strongest enemy – the necromancer – still made me sweat!
The first stage of the playthrough: clearing my starting area and going out to sea.
The second stage: destroying all the "ordinary" (i.e., starting from scratch) enemies.
The third stage: destroying the two strongest enemies, who have a significant advantage in primary skills and troops.
At the beginning, everything is quite traditional. I was pleasantly surprised when the 26 battle unicorns, which I had previously set to be hostile and were guarding the entrance to the nearby dungeon, decided to join me after I had accumulated enough strength to fight them! And since this was a significant increase in the strength of the army, and it was free, I added them (and almost all of them survived later). Going out to sea, as I thought, was only possible in the northeast, where I had to defeat the azure dragons. More precisely, there was also an exit in the south, but there I had to dive into a whirlpool, which is quite expensive without a captain's hat.
Then I first attacked the nearest neighbor (Blue, Tower). Then I gradually explored, collected useful artifacts, and fought the remaining enemies. The allies helped in exploring the sea: they opened part of the water surface.
The Sphere of Vulnerability, guarded very weakly, turned out to be very useful: maybe the author underestimated its importance? And in vain: it's a very useful thing! After seeing the Captain's Hat, I soon captured it, and then, having acquired the Necklace, I assembled the Admiral's Hat. Other valuable items I had were the Alliance of Angels, the Elixir of Life, and the Golden Bow. Also invaluable were the secondary skills of earth, water, and fire magic.
Snipers and wizards became a good support in the war: we got them from ordinary archers, freeing Jela and the Dragon.
Exactly at the end of the 5th month, I defeated everyone except the two strongest enemies. And then something very unpleasant happened: the month of Plague fell! :( And this is right after the regular "raids" on the penultimate day of the month! I replayed the last day many times, exited, entered, loaded other saves, but it was all in vain. And I postponed the playthrough (it turned out to be almost 2 months!), but yesterday I returned to it.
Having dealt with the "ordinary" enemies, I went to war against the Purple (Inferno). The strongest hero of Inferno is Kseron with primary 99/99/99/99. He turned out to be a rather "unserious" opponent: I easily defeated him. Of course, the key to success was having the right tools: in this case, it was Berserk with expert fire magic and the Sphere of Vulnerability. His Archdevils and Ifrits beat each other, and I, meanwhile, destroyed his remaining units. After capturing one city, I teleported a couple of stronger heroes there, and on the second day all the cities became mine, and the Purple perished.
Going down into the dungeon, I easily and without losses defeated 4000 phantom dragons standing in the way. However, with the Pink (Necropolis), everything turned out not to be so fun. As expected, they had only one truly strong hero: Lord Haart with primary 99/99/99/99, 4000 (four thousand) phantom dragons, and 4000 vampire lords. :smile24: In the first attempts to fight, he "defeated" me very quickly. Of course: my army is much smaller! I considered different tactics, but still, I needed a full upgrade of the main heroine to the same 99/99/99/99, and replenishment of the army in the next two weeks.
After that, I was able to defeat Lord Haart on the first try – however, the victory came at a high price: I lost almost all the wizards and snipers; feeling that things were getting serious, he fled! :smile19: Fortunately, almost all the archangels and titans survived. Then everything was as easy as with Inferno: capturing the first city, sending other strong heroes. The last necromancer with his pitiful zombies didn't even risk attacking – he just stood in the Sanctuary until he died. :smile16:
So, the playthrough took me 7 months and 3 days (of which, I just waited for the attack or death of the last necromancer for a week). I didn't notice any glitches: they might have appeared with a longer game, or maybe not, but, of course, it's better to finish faster.
P.S. I would also like to know the opinion of strong players: how would you fight Lord Haart, what tactics would you use? I am attaching a save made before this battle.