Posts from Warlock – “Cultist” [Campaign 4, Mission 3] Auto-translated

The second demon really scared me. It headed towards the 2nd town, guarded by Kifrah, but thankfully, it passed by. Apparently, its only goal is Railagh. It didn't even hesitate to attack the town. The fourth town disappointed me – it's almost not built up. The third town was almost completely built up, and a hero, covered from head to toe in valuable artifacts, was defending it. Railagh will take a large army from Shadia and head to the portal near the first town to find the remaining towns. I'll try to defeat the 3rd demon after taking the 6th town.

...In my opinion, you just need to capture at least 5 castles, and then everything will be easy...

True, capturing the first five castles will require some effort :)
In principle, everything has already been said; this mission is really very difficult at the beginning (until you capture five castles), and then it's just a matter of technique (capturing the sixth and seventh)...

In my opinion, the only difficulty in this mission is that the enemy has too many heroes and they push from all sides, so you don't know who to chase and waste time because of it. As a solution to this problem—buy secondary heroes in captured Castles (especially since high-level ones often appear) and leave them with enough troops to defend cities and retake mines, while using your main heroes to traverse the map (preferably in different directions to cover as much territory as possible). For example, I had no problems capturing cities, nor during open field battles (both against warlocks and demons). I captured the first 6 Castles here quite quickly and easily (though I did have to retake them a couple of times), while I intentionally didn't capture the last one in order to level up as much as possible. By the way, do you know that in this mission there is a land-based (and quite extensive) territory packed with various goodies?

I captured the first six castles here quite quickly and easily (although I had to recapture a couple of them), but I deliberately didn't capture the last one, so I could level up as much as possible. By the way, did you know that there's a large land area in this mission, filled with all sorts of goodies?

I'm planning to do roughly the same thing, if I can defeat the last demon. I think I can, because Railag already has a substantial army, including black dragons. I'm keeping a large army only in the city closest to the front lines, led by Shadia. When I went to the teleport near the second city, she was guarding the first city. Now Railag has gone to the teleport near the first city - I moved Shadia to the fourth city. Reinforcements are coming to Railag from the first city, and to Shadia from the third.

I didn't know about the land area, but I'll still find it, because I'm going to explore the entire map. If all goes well, one hero with a very strong army will stand guard near the last city and won't let anyone out, while the other will calmly explore the area. Then they'll switch.

I'm planning to do roughly the same thing, if I can defeat the last demon. I think I can, because Railag already has a sizable army, including black dragons. I'm keeping a large army in the frontline city, led by Shadia. When I went to the teleport near the second city, she was guarding the first city. Now Railag has gone to the teleport near the first city - I moved Shadia to the fourth city. Reinforcements are coming to Railag from the first city, and to Shadia from the third.

I didn't know about the ground part, but I'll still find it, because I'm going to explore the entire map. If all goes well, one hero with a very strong army will stand guard near the last city and won't let anyone out, while the other will calmly explore the territory. Then they will switch.

I've completed this mission and understand which castles you're referring to (or rather, I can guess based on the numbers), but if someone tries to follow your path, they might get confused. :)
Apologies for the off-topic comment.

I completed this mission and I understand which castles are being referred to (or rather, I can guess by the numbers), but if anyone tries to follow your path, they might get confused. :) Apologies for the off-topic comment.

The first 2 castles leave no room for doubt. The third is north of the teleport near the second castle. The fourth is west of that same teleport. In my opinion, it is even closer to the teleport than the third one. In principle, the order of capturing castles doesn't matter much (IMHO). Dragons cannot be built in either of these two cities. The priority is to secure captured cities without strong defenses as much as possible. Only the first city had strong guards. Therefore, I went where the enemies came from most often. Still, I missed it once — an enemy from the fourth city broke through to the second immediately after the third was captured. However, the hero carrying reinforcements for Railag managed to return there in time. Consequently, a decent garrison led by level 14 Kifra ended up there as well.

Shadia got tired of sitting idle in the fourth city. She decided to wander the surroundings and, if the occasion arose, cast some spells or shoot some arrows. She discovered a garrison. Most likely, there is another city there. But she didn't take it. Moreover, a blue Necromancer hero emerged from the darkness and moved toward the city. Apparently, the problem of finding a Warlock hero in the tavern isn't just mine. Shadia had to hide in the city urgently, hoping he wouldn't notice her and would come closer. If you chase him immediately, he'll run away in an instant. There was a precedent, after all. When Railag chased two heroes, they scattered in different directions. Only one was caught, and a druid at that, thanks to the fact that they move poorly underground (Railag lacks Logistics).

Added after 2 hours 24 minutes
Finally found 2 more cities. A proven method helped — chasing enemy heroes in the hope that they would lead me home. The first one led me to a city near a utopia. That's where the enemies get so many artifacts from — Railag has nowhere left to put them. The second hero led to a city nearby. Waiting for the third demon. I'm short on heroes. I have 6 cities, but only 5 heroes. Last time I complained — Irbet and Letos immediately arrived at the tavern. Although, the latter came without an army. Maybe it will work again. Otherwise, I'll have to buy everyone in sight. The sacrificial pit is weeping from their commands.

I couldn't outsmart the cowardly Necromancer. He fled into the darkness and didn't reappear. Meanwhile, Shadia took a position between the Castle and the garrison. Everyone picks on the poor girl — no one comes on a date with her. When Railag is free, the utopia will be her reward — she has long dreamed of a berserker.

Added after 2 hours 58 minutes
Next time I'll try to complete this mission differently. I believe this is not the best order for capturing cities. Near the teleport by the second city, there are 3 cities located quite far from each other. While capturing the 3rd city, you might miss two strong heroes from the other cities. And it's unknown if a support hero will be able to hold the second city? Especially if another couple of strong heroes emerge from the first teleport simultaneously. Then even Shadia won't be able to provide help to the second city.

In the first teleport, there are 2 cities located relatively close to each other and a very tempting dragon utopia. However, in the second playthrough, my Railag and Shadia already have all Chaos spells from the previous mission, and Shadia also has Darkness. Therefore, they only need it for experience and artifacts. So, Railag will first go to the first teleport to capture those 2 cities, while Shadia will defend the second city. And if one hero does break through to the first city, I think a high-level support hero will handle him. If not in the open field, then behind the walls.

Added after 21 hours 43 minutes
Well, that's it. Looking at the pathetic army of the last demon (only 12 Arch-Devils and some riff-raff), Railag laughed and didn't wait for him in the castle, but went to meet him to save time. The battle was short. The rest is just a matter of technique. 6 cities against one. I decided not to play any further, as all that's left at home in the previous mission is to dig up the Tear of Ashi, and there are 5 days off ahead.

Conclusion: the mission can be completed in two ways.

1. Quickly, without trying to preserve captured cities at any cost and without building them up much, crushing enemies with practically a starting army, like the esteemed Nocturnal Edelweiss. Advantage: the sooner you meet the enemy, the smaller the army they manage to gather.

2. Slowly, building up cities and gathering a large army in them. In this case, you must hold the first city and the mines near it at any cost. Otherwise, there won't be enough resources. There are few resources near the other cities. Furthermore, some mines are far from the cities and can be captured by numerous enemy heroes. The enemies hire many different heroes who travel with starting armies, or even with a single unit, and steal everything that isn't bolted down.

I took the second city at the end of the first week, once all the mines around the first city were captured and it was already providing a decent army.

During a replay, I changed the order of capturing cities. According to intelligence reports, the southern cities were supposed to be deep in the rear, as the enemy could only reach them by passing the first two cities. It turned out that this was a vile piece of disinformation, planted by enemy counterintelligence. Moreover, there was clearly an enemy spy operating in the general staff – the enemy counterattacked precisely where Railag was not present. While Railag was capturing the southern cities, he either attacked Shadia, who was defending the second city, or tried to bypass and reach the first city, which was defended by Kifrah. Both received level-ups.

When Railag returned to the first cities, the enemy, with large forces, tried to retake the city near the utopia, which was defended by Letos. After the last battle, Letos's army was reduced to only one hydra and a few minotaurs. He gained several level-ups.

I had to throw the plan based on disinformation into the trash and urgently develop a new one. Irbet delivered reinforcements to Letos from the second southern city. But it was already too late – he didn't need it, as the new plan was being implemented. Railag and Shadia simultaneously invaded the northern territories. Railag headed towards the city near the garrison, and Shadia towards another. The enemy no longer cared about the southern cities.

After capturing the city, Railag blocked the garrison. To do this, it was enough to position himself within a day's march from the city in the direction of the garrison. Shadia, having scared away the enemy who had peeked out of the city, went to the city near the garrison to take over from Railag. After she arrived, Railag went to capture the last city (not counting the capital), from which Shadia had departed. At the same time, he caught the enemy who had fled from Shadia and had emerged from the city again after she left. Now Railag is enjoying a well-deserved rest (he has reached his development limit) and is looking through binoculars at the enemy capital, while Shadia is leveling up on neutral creatures and looking for various stat-boosting locations, which Railag will then visit.

I took the second city at the end of the second week. During this time, Railag, with the help of Shadia and Irvana (who was purchased in the tavern, replacing Waishan in the first playthrough), captured all the mines around the first city. More precisely, he broke through the defenses, while they collected resources. Therefore, there was enough time to more or less build up the city and recruit a decent garrison. Railag set out on the campaign to the second city with even a dragon in his army (in the first playthrough, dragons appeared much later).

It is important to capture every other city at the end of the week so that you have time to recruit reinforcements in it before the next demon arrives.

If I play through it a third time, I will return to the first playthrough strategy. Everything worked out surprisingly easily there. Shadia mainly dealt only with mine-robbing bandits, who fled from her at full speed. Therefore, she did not receive a single level-up. No one tried to retake the northern cities. Perhaps I was just very lucky then – maybe the mission started in winter, and the heat-loving southerners were afraid to go north. Their clothing is clearly not suitable for the cold.

To make the playthrough easier, it is very important to level up the heroes well. And not just to their development limit, but also to visit as many stat-boosting locations as possible. For example, in the first mission, Railag, regardless of the losses, captured the arena defended by archmages. In the second mission, both heroes reached level 18 and visited all the stat-boosting locations. As a result, my Shadia is not a pushover. She has all the high-level spells of chaos and darkness. And in this mission, both of my heroes will collect everything that is on this map, both on the surface and underground. Unfortunately, my Railag has not yet been able to obtain Arcane Wave, which Shadia obtained in the previous mission.

In the utopia, you can obtain the "Portal to City" spell.

I just tried to complete this mission again... I've tried it with many different strategies... I almost made it, but I didn't notice one town. I captured all the towns, killed two red heroes, and no one was bothering me anymore. It seemed like all that was left was to go up through the garrison and attack the last town. But then I decided to gather an army for Railegh, and I paid the price for it. Time passed, and from that town, the one I didn't notice, an enemy emerged, came down, and captured my town. I was upset, my forces were scattered, I was tired, and I was defeated. Oh well, I'll win next time)))

Hristana, there should be 3 red heroes. They appear after capturing the 2nd, 4th, and 6th castles. If there were only 2, it means the enemy had at least 3 castles. To prevent the enemy from leaving the last castle, Shadia should block it. I constantly provided her with reinforcements from all the castles.

I'll try to recall. I didn't try to hold all the castles; they took the "second" one, but I recaptured it. I didn't give up the northern ones to anyone, and they also took the central one, which I recaptured as the second to last. I gathered an army from all the castles at the bend in the river. I rarely took troops from the "first" castle; closer to the end, I moved everything there. From the last castle (behind the garrison), I constantly repelled small sorties, and in the end, I captured it without any problems. As mentioned above, buying enemy heroes is also a good strategy.

Yeah, capturing castles is only half the battle – the real challenge is holding them. But I completed two full rounds of capturing with Raileigh, while defending against minor heroes with Shadia, or rather, with her magic, because she didn't have an army at all... But with two witches and ten assassins, she took down the second demon hero... even though I didn't expect her to be able to do it.

Yes, there was indeed a 3rd demon. Yesterday, after a long break, I easily completed this mission. Well... I hired heroes with high levels so that they wouldn't fight against me later. I didn't build up the towns much. And, most importantly, I killed the red demons with Shadia. She takes them down like it's nothing. Although I tried to kill them with Raileigh, but for some reason, it didn't work.
Here, tell me, friends. I've been wondering about something for a long time. How can I split, for example, 20 assassins into 10 and 10? Someone already asked this question in this forum, and they answered that you need to press Shift. But I press it, and nothing happens.

Hold down Shift and drag to an empty slot.

Yes, there was indeed a 3rd demon. Yesterday, after a long break, I easily completed this mission. Well... I hired heroes with high levels so that they wouldn't fight against me later. I didn't really develop the cities. And, most importantly, I killed the red demons with Shadia. She takes them down like it's nothing. Although I tried to kill them with Raialg, but for some reason, it didn't work.
Here, tell me, friends. I've been wondering about something for a long time. How can I split, for example, 20 assassins into 10 and 10? Someone already asked this question on this forum, and they answered that you need to press Shift. But I press it, and nothing happens.

I always try to buy high-level heroes everywhere so that they don't end up with the enemy. This mission is no exception.

My Shadia came to this mission, having been maxed out in the previous mission, with a full set of chaos and darkness spells. Moreover, unlike Raialg, she had the Arcane Wave spell. I think she could have handled the demon as well. But she was defending the first city from enemies from the south while Raialg captured cities in the north and fought the reds.

You need to hold down Shift while moving the units. Then a menu for splitting the stack will appear.

I'm uploading the map. This way, no one will lose their cities, and enemies won't appear "out of nowhere" :)