Posts from Testers needed.

Do the assembled artifacts carry over to the next missions? Is there any point in bothering to defend them?

No, but is it necessary?

Did your spellbook also fail to open during a battle with a Necromancer?

Mine didn't open either. I reloaded the game, and it started opening. Then I started replaying, and it stopped opening again. Both for the hero and for the Inquisitors. Moreover, the menu was also glitching. I thought it was a problem with the game itself.

Everything was fine with me - I attacked him myself right on the bridge.

So, in the fifth mission, Andreas is again level one... That's a shame.

Right from the start?

Yes, I'm loading the fifth mission, and Andreas has become a helpless noob again... Is that intentional?

By the way, this option could be left as is, it could be a kind of "map feature." You can lose your army and fight the necromancer, or you can try to manage to defeat the orc with the troops you have. )

But for the second option, you'll probably have to improve logistics anyway, and also with seafaring. Considering that the hero has a maximum of level 12, it's not the most useful ability. I like this option more, but it seems like the necromancer reached my castle in about 4-5 days.

You can summon caravans and delay him; in principle, he should waste extra mana points on destroying them.

Yes, I'm loading the fifth mission, and Andreas is once again a helpless noob... Is that intentional?

No, it's not intentional. It's a bug. I'll fix it now...

The Dwarven Treasury (west of the dungeon, near the portal), guarded by thanes, lava dragons, and berserkers, is inaccessible.

+ The military school west of Ymirheim (town T) cannot be visited. + The southern passage (center of the map, portal) also cannot be accessed. I don't know yet if this is a bug or not, but it seems that way.

And there's another very strange bug with the outpost (the first one on the left, next to Mirhar – the Academy city in the center).
The promised encounters with mages don't seem to have any negative impact on the hero, and I was worried that they would reset all levels again.
So, this outpost is very strange; you can't pass through it in any way. Moreover, it seems that heroes get stuck there too, because I killed one of them standing right inside the outpost. This is even more frustrating because Andreas is somewhat trapped in the central lands without the ability to leave.

Bugs and balance issues in the first map.
As others have mentioned, my Necromancer takes a week to reach the destination (and that's in the best-case scenario...).
In that time, I only manage to push the undead towards the Master, but I still fall short by one day.
Regarding logistics and sailing – lol, what? What's with the 12th level? You guys are joking, right?))))
With the amount of experience and troops – around 100 Lendlords and 7 Inquisitors with 200-400 experience each? And with an unknown chance of them appearing? Come on...
Regarding the time limit – increase it. I've found a way to carefully transfer resources, but there's still too little time to reach the destination and summon the Necromancer.
Regarding the archer (tower) defense – either remove the stack of higher vampires or the ghosts from there – the vampires are overpowered. Even on the 4th week...
Regarding the spells... I didn't notice anything like that in my castle defense with cheats and a spellbook... the Inquisitors were actively using spells.
And yes, remove one of the Necromancer's spells (he can cast too many spells, especially copies...).
For now, my verdict on the first map is:
Landscape and playability idea – 5+
Strategic and tactical aspects – 5
Resource and troop balance – 1
Time for the mission – 3-
Overall game difficulty – very high (a beginner shouldn't even try, they'll lose even on recruit difficulty, I tried it myself).
Conclusion – A decent (good...) map for fans and those who like to challenge their brains, but not for ordinary people who, like me, like to play once, have some fun, and complete it. There's no balance for that...
P.S.: I've started writing a guide on how to complete the map, so I'd like to ask my fellow players – can you record a video of how YOU completed the map without cheats? Or at least just the replays of the battles and a description of what happened between the battles (i.e., where you went and what you did).
That's what I'm doing. Otherwise, the veterans of Heroes 3 and 5 won't believe that it's possible to lose on the first map.)))
Regarding the shipyard and spellbook bug – I have a feeling that it's not the game's fault, but either an incorrect code from the NCF file (or the EXE was modified), or it's a mod... Although, I don't rule out the possibility of a developer error...

Eleondor, send the replays, and we'll see what your mistakes are. Build your town like this: 1. Guild of Mages, then infantry, and only then archers. Recruit troops in this order: peasants, then infantry, and only then archers right before facing the Necropolis, because they're not needed otherwise. Don't build a Fortress or a Citadel; instead, upgrade the infantry to Zealots before facing the Necropolis. The Recruit map can be cleared using auto-battles (almost everywhere).

Well, I haven't been able to complete the last mission yet. The game crashes after the opponent's turn, and it's been happening for the past two weeks, starting in the second month of the game. I don't even know what's causing it, but the game crashes immediately after the opponent's turn ends. I'll have to figure out how to solve this problem...

Reksar, we're short on ore.
Check it yourself – there are 37 resources in total.
We have enough ore for a guild, basic barracks, and +6 more, and if we exchange gold for ore, we can upgrade. But there won't be enough for +20 more ore for archers.((
By the way, you can write to me on Skype or VK – I read and check those more often...

No, but should it?

No, I was just asking if there are any good items on the map, like a Necromancer's cloak from a set. I'm too lazy to fight for it. If it doesn't transfer over, then it's not worth fighting for.