Posts from Twilight of Darkness

Regarding the "simplified version." You can play it, in principle, if you're prepared for a long time, but why do humans only get creatures of level 7 after completing the quest to collect artifacts, while others don't? And again, the Sanctuary and Arena, which are on their territory behind the fence, don't work for humans.

Thank you for the map; the concept is very interesting. But! After capturing all the castles and defeating all the AI heroes, the game turns into a boring, step-by-step destruction of the Red Tent guardians (I assume this is the last obstacle to the one-way portal). I played on "Hero" difficulty with the Orcs, but due to the lack of a threatening concentration of AI forces near each flag (I didn't encounter a danger level higher than "medium"), it was quite easy to deal with them using a defensive tactic within the city ("a problem" in Heroes 5 – the AI's tactical weakness when attacking city fortifications). I agree with the previous statement – the diplomacy and quest system needs to be reworked; otherwise, they are meaningless. To do this: 1) strengthen the AI, 2) make the rewards for completing quests much more significant (e.g., skill bonuses, artifacts).
P.S. 1) The "Ogre Club" can be obtained by flanking the guard patrol. 2) It is extremely difficult to find the Elven Archers in the forests to complete the quest – it strains your eyes. 3) If technically possible, for balance purposes, the Orcish castle should definitely have the "Frightening Roar" spell – without it, I believe that from the 6th game month onwards, destroying the Red Tent guardians becomes a tedious process. Over 200 Phoenixes are the reason. Once again, thank you for the map and the opportunity to play as the Orcs. I look forward to the continuation with changes in the balance.

I played as Humans with a hero and completed the game in 22 weeks. My impressions are mixed: the map is interesting, the enemy is strong, the battles are difficult, but there are too many quests (I killed everyone without any approval). The ending was simply disappointing: instead of the expected event behind the portal, the game simply ends after visiting the red tent. But overall, it's not bad. Thank you to the author.

I decided to play this map, tried different strategy options, and found that the easiest way to win is to simply eliminate all opponents without hesitation, which is what I did in just under 4 months.
It was only difficult in the first month while I was fighting the Dwarves (or rather, their outpost), and after that, the "victorious march of Soviet power" began. I reached the Prophet a week before winning against all players - at that time, the strength of the garrisons guarding the artifacts was many times greater than the strength of the opponents, and most importantly, greater than the strength of the garrisons guarding the entrances to their states. So, in order to make it more advantageous to play according to the scenario, it is necessary to change the balance of power (at least for the U/S hero).
Well, this is, of course, just my IMHO.
P.S., yes, here is the key battle: