Posts from The most challenging maps for you.

Let's not forget that the AI doesn't follow the rules... if it's smart enough, it will use a diplomacy mod to form a powerful alliance, arrive in the second or third week, and crush you... or it will use a mage with blue sprites to overwhelm you... so be careful what you wish for!) no one thinks about the negative consequences!)
P.S. I won't even mention author-made maps, because the AI won't give you a chance there.

You set the difficulty level you want and play.

P.P.S. I'm not even talking about how long its turn takes, because the AI shouldn't take that long, since there's quick combat...

You're talking as if the project has already been launched, and the project author (who is he?:D) is consulting with the Heroes community for advice and suggestions.:D

You set the desired difficulty level and play.

You're talking as if the project is already launched, and the project author (who is he?:D) is consulting with the Heroes community for advice and suggestions.:D

Well, I don't know, a smart computer is certainly good, but it's still more interesting and familiar to play against people. Although there is one noobish advantage - the computer will always give you an auto-win, regardless of whether it wants to or not.:D

The computer will always give an auto-win.

What is, is. And there's really no one left to remake Heroes of Might and Magic III. And there's no need to. Unless Heroes of Might and Magic III becomes an Olympic sport. :D

Recently, the mod ""Master of Puppets"" was released, which is an add-on for WoG. I haven't seen it myself, but the author claims that the AI has been significantly improved, and many enhancements have been made to the game.

As I promised, I have now completed the «Infernal conquest SoD» map.
I'll say right away: as Chingis already noted, it is impossible to complete this quickly. The reasons for this are the massive armies you will need to defeat at the end, and the absence of Flight and Dimension Door spells and artifacts that grant them (until the finale). Moreover, as follows from the map properties, all random artifacts are prohibited here, except for pieces of the Legion Statue (the Head is also prohibited, but several are located in the dungeon behind border guards). However, everything necessary to accomplish the task on the map is present; it's just that you won same not get it immediately.
For those who aren't aware, let me remind you: as I've said before, I fundamentally play without "scouting" and do not chase high scores so as not to spoil the enjoyment of the process.
The essence of what is happening is as follows. Long ago, the peoples of this world, joining forces, defeated the undead who struck terror into everyone. After destroying the Undead King, his Cloak was taken apart and hidden in a dungeon under heavy guard. Now, Inferno has become a universal threat, and the nations are fighting each for themselves. To win, you must collect the Undead King's Cloak and bring it to the capital of Inferno, Adroushan.
You can play as any of the 7 races, and each has a chance to win, but I would recommend choosing Castle for several reasons. Archangels will allow you to avoid significant losses in the initial stage, provide the right of first strike in battle (in most cases), and the closest neighbors of humans – Conflux, also on grass, provides level 5 magic and the ability to obtain any school of magic. These are not all the reasons: others become apparent during the Walkthrough.
The topography of the map is as follows: on the surface, Inferno stretches in a diagonal strip from northwest to southeast, broken in the north by the sea; in the dungeon, there is an extensive system of tunnels connecting the zones of all enemies except Inferno. Mighty garrisons stand at the borders of all lands—as the author writes, for protection against Inferno—but no one else can pass through them without a fight either. Since these garrisons consist of legions of monsters and are also anti-magic, it is realistically possible to enter Inferno lands only by sea (they themselves cannot go out to sea – this is important!).
As the mage's eyes will soon reveal to us, the components of the Cloak lie in one place in the dungeon, under guard and behind black border gates. The black tent is in one location, with the path blocked by border guards of the other 7 colors. Other tents are located on the players' lands, one for each. Furthermore, a passage guardian blocks the way to the Cloak, requiring you to bring 1000 peasants. The mage's eyes also show the location of the village where the peasants live: an island in the center of the surface world. Inferno cannot get there because a guard stands at the border, letting through only the holder of the Sacred Keychain. As stated in the plot, each race has this key, held by a key keeper, and all of them are initially locked in cities in the dungeon.
On each player's lands, there are 1-way monoliths. One leads to the Arena of Mystic Battles, where the demon Fiona awaits us; for defeating her, you can obtain the Shackles of War. Another 1-way monolith leads to a cursed island where an abandoned Necropolis stands and from which one can set sail by building a boat. Yet another 1-way monolith leads into the dungeon to the crypts where the Key Keepers live. Additionally, there are many entrances and exits of a 1-way monolith in the dungeon through which you can quickly reach different parts of the underworld.
From the above, a general plan of action can already be formed. Everything seems clear and logical enough. The map is well-thought-out and very good. But ahead lie a series of surprises and "pitfalls" that reveal themselves during gameplay.
Pitfall № 1. Although Town Portal is allowed on the map, as I found out later, it is disabled in towns. Fortunately, I took the Tome of Earth Magic (located near the Library on Conflux lands). But still, it turned out that only one hero could move actively and efficiently across the world; others were forced to be "on standby," gathering troops, taking them for upgrades at the Fort on the Hill and Stables (another reason to choose Castle: neighbors have neither), and increasing growth in towns using pieces of the Legion Statue. This, firstly, significantly slows down the entire process, and secondly, one hero cannot be everywhere at once, and it often becomes necessary to choose what is more important.
TP can only be learned in the seer's hut, who rewards you with it for a hero reaching level 32. I didn't reach him until the end of the 7th month!
Pitfall № 2. I don't know how the author views this, but it seems wrong to me that the main villain of Inferno, Xeron, fully leveled from the start and with a huge army, moves freely throughout all his domains (usually such heroes are kept in the capital or placed stationary so that you only fight them at the end of the game). Obviously, we need to establish control over the central zone, where peasants are collected on the island for 7 weeks. This, of course, will be handled by some "pawn," as the main hero still has a bunch of important things to do! But one must not let enemies attack the "collector" and generally keep them off the island. You may be able to defeat Xeron (Sphere of Vulnerability, Berserk, and Expert Fire Magic will play a decisive role in the war), but oh, not for a long time! Other "ordinary" enemies won't be such a problem and can be dealt with. However, encounters with Xeron must be avoided. I solved this problem in a not-entirely gentlemanly way that has bailed me out a couple of times before (by the way, take note: it might come in handy). A personal "blunder" helped—usually harmful, but I turned it to my advantage: after landing on the Inferno shore, I didn't sink the boat! Generally, it's better to do that immediately. But here I see: my hero has gone far ahead, and Xeron rushed to the boat and got in. Well, I thought, buddy, you're caught! I urgently send a hero with water magic sailing, and when Xeron lands on the islet with mummy dwellings, I sink his boat! Now he cannot get out of there: he has no Boat Call or Town Portal (though this only becomes apparent later, as he sticks to the island day after day). After that, the central lands came completely under my control.
The main surprise awaiting us on the peasant island: a Pandora's box guarded by 6000 archangels! What is so valuable in it? Angel Wings! If you manage to get them, collecting peasants, visiting tents, and destroying enemies becomes optional. But doing this is also very difficult, as it requires a lot of time and patience. A technique I once used to overcome a garrison of 8000 Azure Dragons will help: hit-n-run with Berserk. And when relatively few archangels remain, you can take the entire accumulated army and "give them hell" in a normal battle.
Smaller surprises: ambushes with Inferno troops before each of their cities, and ambushes of azure dragons on the peasant island (as the author writes, the dragons are their pets).
After obtaining the Angel Wings, everything ends rapidly: entry into the dungeon, capture of the last Necropolis, obtaining the components of the Undead King's Cloak, flight across the sea to Inferno on the shore, its capture, and finally, flight to the capital and its capture. Strangely enough, this final battle turned out to be quite easy, but before the capital, a serious ambush of 4662 Archdevils awaited us!
I don't want to reveal all the details; the map is very rich and you won't be bored; if you want, complete it yourself – it's worth it!
My result is quite modest: victory on 10-2-2 with 436 points (the Grail was dug up and installed in a town). Certainly, if I had previously studied the map in the editor and with Prospector, much could have been done much faster. The most important factors affecting speed are how quickly you get Town Portal from the seer and how quickly you fight for the Angel Wings. By the way, they could be fought for by almost any hero, as long as they had Advanced Wisdom, Expert Fire Magic, and Berserk, with only the final battle conducted by the main hero. I left this "for dessert," since the main hero and everyone who could fight were busy until the end catching the remaining weak enemies. And only when one Red remained did I go for the "dessert."
However, it should be noted that we cannot receive the bonus for defeating all enemies (25 points): Inferno still has 3 cities in the dungeon that we simply cannot reach.

I finished playing a pretty good map, "A Beautiful World". The result is relatively good: a 6-3-6 victory with 492 points. The map is mainly strategic, but there is also a clever author's plan that the player gradually uncovers: each of the opponents lives on a large island, from which you can only sail away in a couple of places; also, it's not easy to get to the mages in the north: you have to wander through caves for a long time; there is a key Castle, from which the path leads to the islands where neutral dragons live, as well as to the cartographers.
By the way, the map received the "Golden Brush" award; you can read Sir SuperStar's review at the link.
The player can play as any of the 8 factions; I chose Rampart. It wasn't too easy to play, especially because (maybe I was just unlucky with the setup) out of all the important 4th-level spells, I only got City Portal in my cities. Meanwhile, Turquoise managed to get a lot of phoenixes, leveled up, and was the most formidable enemy for a long time. It was difficult to fight until I got Resurrection, so I had to master various tactical tricks to minimize losses. Another observation: Flight and Dimension Door are prohibited on the map, but there is a Tome of Air Magic, and in the middle of the game, I saw enemies "jumping" a couple of times; but then the "jumps" stopped, and the Tome of Air Magic disappeared without a trace...
I won't tell you everything: play it yourself! I'll just say that later, after defeating other strong enemies, Shiva turned out to be the most evil: she was much stronger in terms of primary attack and defense skills, and she had a Sphere of Inhibition! So, I saved her for last and defeated her at the end when my miners dug up the Grail.

I downloaded this map; it's not one of the very difficult ones, because everyone is in roughly equal conditions + the castles are quite easy to defend due to their island location. I played as Dungeon and finished with a 7-1-2 score (3 hours of real time). I didn't unlock City Portal in any of my castles, and I found the book with air magic spells in the last week

Zoron, well, yes, in general, "Infernal Conquest SOD" will be more challenging.

I liked the mechanic of blocking Xeron.

Otherwise, you would have to attack him only at the end, after defeating all six "regular" enemies. But if someone completes this map in their own way, please share the story of their battle!

Which Seer has the Grail of Power?

I won't tell! ;) I only reached him in the 7th month. Use the Editor or Prospector to help!

How did you use the hit-and-run tactic against the Archangels? They go first, don't they?

I took 1 Phoenix and 3 Fairies, divided into single units. It's a pity I didn't have the Spirit of Despair: it's very useful with a Berserker, as it prevents the sudden appearance of high morale in the Archangels, which occasionally happens. The Phoenix is, of course, a pity, but with 2 Confluxes, 2 outer Campfires, and a Statue of the Legion, there are plenty of them.

I finally finished the Walkthrough of the map "Gwynn Ap Nudd", which I once mentioned here. (I won't repeat myself; see the beginning there). ..........

I really liked this map; thank you for the link. It was a bit difficult for me due to a poor start, but I didn't replay it; I completed it as is. It's one of those maps that can be completed much faster on the second try. The map has 2 large areas with many gold mines and towers with azure and crystal dragons. All the fighting revolves around these areas. And the strongest hero with stats 99 99 99 99 and a Sphere of Inhibition is also quite tough.

Read the description of the map “Infernal conquest SoD” by Sir Marmot and decided to try it. I started with the Conflux faction, as it turned out to be the easiest to complete, because the Book of Earth is located on their territory. The game became more interesting when the AI released the main hero of the red faction, and he headed straight for my lands). I couldn't defeat him head-on, so I had to run around. I didn't start collecting peasants right away, even after discovering the island; first, I explored the entire map and the dungeon. When I went to collect peasants, I tried to defeat the Archdevils and managed to do so head-on, without any tricks. Moreover, at the end, you need to defeat approximately the same number of Archdevils. Overall, I enjoyed the map. Completed it with 8-4-5.

The AI unleashed the main hero of the red faction, and he went straight to my lands.

Stop! How is that possible? Red cannot enter anyone else's territory except their own (lava): mega-garrisons prevent it! Explain or provide a save file. Maybe he learned to fly (although he couldn't - but I also had a flying enemy, only green)?

I tried to defeat the Archons and defeated them head-on without any tricks, and at the end, I had to defeat approximately the same number of Archdevils.

When the army is very large and there is a lot of mana, you can defeat the Archangels in the Pandora's Box and head-on; but it's easier to destroy the Archdevils at the end because they don't resurrect each other; at least, I defeated them without any difficulty.

Here's the red hero in the Dungeon at 6 o'clock, heading towards my Castle. Here he is, having captured the Castle and heading back to his own. I haven't finished off the Dungeon AI yet; the one near the red tent took 3 Castles from him, but I couldn't find the last one. And I found a place where you can get a Grail for level 32. But it wasn't relevant because I already had the Book of Earth.
P.S.: Can you recommend another map in a similar style?

Zoron, do you have any earlier save files? Because I still don't see: where and how did Red get into the dungeon? Find that moment and tell everyone. I repeat: he shouldn't have gotten there in the first place! Therefore, if this happened, I wouldn't continue that game.

I also haven't finished off the Dungeon AI, the one near the red tent, took 3 castles from him, but I couldn't find the last one.

And the last castle is in one place, where all the cities are key repositories.

And I found the place where you can get a Great Power for level 32. But it wasn't relevant because I had the Earth book.

I disagree: because now you can teach all your heroes with Earth magic to "jump" between cities!
And another question: how and when did Red capture the Portal of Glory on the island? Did he visit the White tent? Or, like in my case, did he cheat?<

Here, I found a save file. If you set the game settings to slow down the opponent's turn, you can see that the red player simply walked across the water to a small island, which, in theory, shouldn't be accessible, and disembarked. Here's the save file: http://zalil.ru/33850006. I couldn't upload it here; I'm on a business trip, and the internet connection is modem-based, so it seems to be glitching.

And the last Castle is in one place, where all the cities are repositories of keys.

No, I captured it. I opened the save, and I didn't take that Castle in the Dungeon, next to which you get the ability to learn a global spell at level 32.
P.S. Are there any other maps of a similar type?
P.S.S. By the way, has anyone played the map "The Empire of The World II"?

Ha! I checked the position and progress of Red in your save #3. 1. You need to find an *even earlier* save: Olema is *already* on the island with the portals of glory, having captured both! 2. The move at the end of the day to the neighboring islet, where there are Dungeon Gates and a seer's hut, isn't Walking on Water, but rather Flight, because the shores there are blocked by obstacles on all sides. So again – it’s AI cheating! I won't say that there are exactly maps of this type, but here, you can try Undead Apocalypse, which I wrote about earlier in this thread.