Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

That wasn't the intention, the question is, what did it give you?

Nothing, of course)).

Eternia can be completed quite easily in one go.

Well, I don't know, I couldn't do it without significant losses.

I don't have the audacity to ask for money for a map for a game that's 17 years old. Although, yes, I have ideas for another map.

Since you have ideas, you should definitely implement them. It would be a sin to leave such creative potential untapped)).

And it's not about having to ask. Let's just create a thread to find out if there are people willing to sponsor the creation of a new map (and to what extent).

By the way, the age of the game actually plays a positive role here. Definitely, schoolchildren are unlikely to play Heroes 3 – I think it's mostly adults, who are quite well-off. It's unlikely that most of them will find it difficult to donate 5-10k to the author.

Add the donation coordinates to the scenario information – that’s all. If someone likes the map and wants to show their appreciation, here’s the donation link.

In Paragon, there are donation coordinates.

But these are two different things – rewarding someone for a map they have already created and paying for the creation of a new one.

I'm continuing my playthrough of "The Lone Knight." In the past two days of gameplay, I've defeated three powerful enemies: Kilgor, Zuban, and Gem. But that's just the beginning compared to what lies ahead! First, the answer to a question I had earlier has become clear: the editor definitively shows that to proceed after defeating Red, you need all four elemental spheres. The new spheres can only be obtained after defeating the guardian who guards them, and the player can't fly yet. Therefore, Ignis must be acquired, regardless of which color you choose to play as. Now, I have another question for those who have already completed this map: how did you defeat Thorgrim? This guy is not only tough in terms of stats and has a huge army (including 326 gold dragons), but he's also an expert in magic resistance. And the Vulnerability Sphere can only be obtained after defeating him (yes, the author is quite the sadist!). The only advice given by the author before the battle is:

If you can't cast any spells on the enemy, maybe it's a good idea to cast Prayer on your own troops at the start of combat.

In other words, instead of casting spells on the enemy, it's better to cast them on your own troops (and the Sphere of Permanence is especially useful here, as it prevents the enemy from removing these spells). There are several approaches here... I'll elaborate later: while I was writing this, a good idea came to me, and I need to test it. I tested it: the idea turned out to be correct. Only the first attempt wasn't perfect: despite having a relatively large mana reserve, it wasn't enough to revive all the fallen, so this time I lost about half of the skeletons (but all the others returned to the ranks). I'll try to improve the result, as things will get tougher later, and losses are highly undesirable. Hooray! With a new attempt, everything worked out: there were no losses, the number of skeletons increased, Red is defeated, the Vulnerability Sphere is mine, and I can move on.

Who has played Xiedu? How do you find the "summon ship" option? I can't seem to figure it out.

Lider1, there is a discussion about the map "Xiedu" on websites with map directories:
http://heroesportal.net/tavern/?id=412123 (a topic on the forum, but there are almost no comments in the map directory)
http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=784&game=3&limit=3 (4 pages, with older posts below). You can ask directly there; registration is not required.
Have you played "The Lone Knight"? I'm currently trying to figure out how to defeat King Lerdes; I've found some clues, but I haven't found a definitive solution yet.

I don't like walkthroughs, and I don't read reports about played maps if I haven't played them myself. I like to figure things out on my own, rather than repeating what someone else has already done. I don't want to read anything unnecessary. I just need one hint about where to find the "Challenge the Boat" quest. It's obviously with the pink player, but the quest giver won't let me in; I either need to be a specific hero, or kill another hero, which I can't see – he's simply not there. I'll wait for Pomazok in the thread; he seems to have played it. "The Lone Knight" was played a long time ago, and I honestly don't remember much about it. I don't even remember if I finished it or not. I do remember that this map impressed me with its coolness at the time when I started playing it. Now, there are probably even cooler maps, but after the standard trash, diving into "The Lone Knight" was a real revelation.

Have you played "The Lone Knight"? I'm currently trying to figure out how to defeat King Lerdes; I've found some clues, but I haven't quite figured out the exact strategy yet.

I don't remember why (it was a long time ago), but I was only able to defeat him in AotD. Then, after forgetting something, I blocked the gate and spent a long (or not so long) time shooting at him. After the king, there's one last battle; I remember spending 1/3 of the total time I spent on the map on it.
Hans C and others praise his maps, but I didn't like Uprising because of its water-and-island design.

Rince, yes, I think these are the most suitable tactics: Cursed Armor, Gate Defense, Forgetfulness, and then – depending on the situation (if there is no Ballistics, then you need to destroy your own catapult with Meteor Shower). Why (to my great regret!) it is not worth using the Alliance of Angels: the king has Cursed Armor, Boots of Swiftness, and Ring of the Wanderer, and on his native land, he has a total of +4 to the speed of all units. Therefore, even if you come to him with phoenixes, after his Slow and our Prayer, his titans go first, and all his 5 units of archers shoot before you can do anything, and after that, only miserable remnants remain of the army, with which you can only "get ink and cry." And the Amulet of Indifference gives him immunity to Berserk.
In battle, a lot also depends on whether the AI will act as we need: sometimes it behaves "correctly," but then the Wizards can cast Healing, and... you have to start the battle again.
HURRAY! I defeated him - although roughly: I made a couple of mistakes and could not raise all the fallen. Tomorrow I will start working on improving the result.

After the king, there is still the last battle.

2 battles: Draconia with golden dragons in front of Rampart and Lea de'Vuz with various dragons inside Rampart.

Link: http://www.maps4heroes.com/heroes3/maps.php?keywords=The+Lone+Knight&type=&size=&difficulty=&sort=3 (English version is the 2nd, added 25.05.2016) or in the collection of best maps.

A very good and challenging RPG-style map.
You can play as one of 4 sides, but since the main storyline is dedicated to the fate of a young necromancer, it would be logical to complete it as him (Turquoise) for your first run.
Plot: an evil prime minister has removed the king and queen from power and imprisoned them in dungeons somewhere far from their homeland. The Elemental Lords and princesses, whose help we will need, are also languishing in prisons. The heir to the throne, Prince Jasca, must find and free his parents and the Elemental Lords, and then punish the offenders.
Despite the differences, the map in some ways resembles "The Fall of Atlantis": 4 races to choose from, and a need to repel enemy attacks or flee during the mid-game. However, there are significant advantages here: the map is generally balanced (although the author did not balance the increased phoenix growth and even placed an external dwelling like the opponents have) and the strongest enemies cannot attack us; they sit motionless in their cities or roam only within their own territory. In "The Fall of Atlantis," only Duke Ufretin stays in the capital, while others wander freely wherever they please. Also, there is no regular resource drain here, nor sudden (and sometimes very powerful) ambushes.
A characteristic feature of the map is the strikingly different nature of gameplay at various stages of completion. Battles with the main enemies of Red and Brown will be a serious trial for players. Everything before that will turn out to be mere preparation!
Aeris Quamarine (China), also a well-known map author, quite accurately and vividly described the essence of this map in a discussion on maps4heroes.com:

Everyone firstly playing maps of Hans will experience a lot of sadness and endless night, such as "too hard" and "impossible". But then you will appreciate his perfect works and enjoy the game, enjoying play tricks on AI.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=2
Therefore, the Ministry of Health warns: this map is not recommended for children under 18, pregnant women, or persons with a fragile psyche! ;)
Presence of a plot, delivered in small portions as you reach certain locations. There isn't much text, but just enough to understand where we are, what is happening, why, and "who all these people" (and non-people) are. By the way, if you read everything carefully, before attacking the prime minister, you will learn something unexpected about his motives, which will prepare you for whom you will have to fight after Erdian. For me, this was a real surprise. On a simpler map, killing the prime minister would be the end of it, but here he is not the main villain!
Possibility of choosing a race to play. Moreover, completion with different races differs greatly in tactics, so another color means a completely different game; thus, a second playthrough will not be boring or predictable.
Absence of strict time limits ("timing") for completing tasks: it is no secret that this can be very stressful for players, and if the author's calculation is wrong, the map can become impossible for those who do not play fast enough. By the way, from the reviews I've seen, completion times vary greatly between players: some finished in 17 months, while Aeris Quamarine writes that he completed it in 77 days and believes it can be done in as little as 60 days!

As for score~~~ My Best is 77 days and 498 Archangel.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=2

77 days are not the possibly fastest, as it can be surely done within 60 days.

http://www.maps4heroes.com/forum/opinions.php?map_id=67&game=3&limit=1
The "traditional" for RPG maps hiding of objects and passages is also present here, but if you look around carefully, you won't miss anything important; in case of difficulty, the editor with accessibility mode enabled will always help.
* An original trick by the author, "thanks" to which we have a guaranteed problem during gameplay that is solved by one of two methods depending on which color we play: the prison with Ignissa in cell 77,38 stands on water. From the event texts before the prison, we know this is not accidental, but intentional.
* An author's error, which fortunately does not hinder completion, but rather allows the player to cheat and get 2 important things earlier than intended: one passage guard can be bypassed (though you will still have to defeat the guards in front of him). Interestingly, I have yet to encounter any mentions of this—did people see it but just rubbed their hands in silence?
* Of the many seer quests on the map, most are optional. Sometimes you need to compare rewards to choose which artifact to exchange for what. To prevent an unsuccessful exchange and for convenience, I created screenshots of tables with guard and seer quests and marked them with my own notes and a series of comments. The colors of the marks clearly show: what is mandatory, what is not, and what is better not to do.

Read all texts carefully, starting with the author's description file! There is a lot of important information there. I will not repeat what was said there, except for the most essential parts. I have also translated this file (for now, the translation made by Google and partially edited is quite raw, but perfectly understandable).
Think carefully before starting the game: which race will you play? The choice of race strongly affects the difficulty of individual stages. However, in later stages, you can (and should) mix different troops. If it seems to you that playing as a Necromancer is easiest, I must warn you: you will not have pieces of the Undead King's Cloak until the final stage.
By the way, regarding troops: try to capture all creature dwellings, especially crossbowmen, monks, elves, and mages. Also, do not miss any opportunity to get additional wizards and snipers: in some battles they will be exceptionally important! And let heroes with pieces of the Legion Statue spend the night in cities on the 7th day of each week.
Despite the lack of timing, it is highly desirable to finish within 6-7 months: starting from day 180, a significant additional growth of creatures will appear weekly in enemy cities (besides previous "gifts")! For this same reason, the approach of "I'll wait a few weeks/months, build up my army, and then defeat everyone" won't work here: you either beat the enemies with existing forces and means, or set the map aside until you figure out how to do it. I confirm: there are no unkillable enemies here, but you will have to think hard in some places!
The author suggests: the main hero needs Logistics, Intelligence, Earth Magic, Water Magic, and, of course, Wisdom. Witch huts and scholars providing these skills help the player along the way. There is also a University. Important: until you get Earth Magic, do not take the Accuracy skill from one hiding scholar—you can do without this skill, but playing without Earth Magic is useless. In my opinion after completion, Fire Magic (Berserk, Blindness...) is also very desirable for the main hero, and it's good if he gets Tactics and Ballistics. If not—no matter: in that case, you will need to take a hero with Tactics for a couple of battles.
There are very many artifacts in the game. Therefore, constantly distribute them among heroes, and assemble combined ones from pieces at the first opportunity. The main hero should ideally carry only those artifacts that are needed constantly and those that will be needed in the coming days.
To avoid difficulties with quests, I will name those that are optional:
- all that give additional resources;
- all that give additional troops;
- all that increase primary skills.
There are also quests that I call "conditionally mandatory": whether you need to perform them depends on which color you play and which method of obtaining the required item you prefer. These are primarily tasks for freeing Elemental Lords and tasks for taking 3 Tomes of Magic and the Sphere of Banning in the vicinity of the Brown city Soul Crusher: your "own" Lord is simply freed, while the other 3 will have to be "dug up" in the tavern. You will need 4 Elemental Spheres to give to the guard before Soul Crusher. However, taking the books and the Sphere of Banning can be done "peacefully" with the help of Lords or by opening Pandora's boxes and defeating the powerful dragon guards.
Do not lose heroes in battles and do not dismiss them, except those who have no artifacts and no advanced spells. It is especially important to keep the main hero of your color (Prince Jasca / Adele / Xeron / Mutare): some quests are designed only for him. If you already have 8 heroes and need to make room for a hero from prison or one hired in the tavern, hide the "extra" hero in a city (it's also useful to give him pieces of the Legion Statue).
Do not let the "main" enemies (Blue, Green, Red, Brown) learn Town Portal: this could disrupt the entire intended course of the game and make victory unattainable! "Ordinary" opponents (Orange, Purple, Turquoise, Pink) will learn Town Portal in their last city anyway.
When fighting enemies in the field, be sure to equip the Shackles of War: you cannot let the enemy escape so that you can definitely obtain their artifacts!
Once at sea, try to visit the Dragon Utopia before the enemies: valuable artifacts from there will give a noticeable advantage, and there is only one Utopia on the map!
How to get Ignissa: if you don't want to have a problem with her—do not play as Pink (Inferno), as only the main hero of this color can remove the passage guard on the way to her prison, or remove the guard but do not free her—let one of the enemies do it! Once she is freed, if an enemy did it, she will disappear a week after all his cities are captured and appear in the tavern (HD mod helps dig her up). If you freed her yourself—the only option is to dismiss her and hire her again.
By the way, the clever trick with Ignissa suggests that defeated enemies dug up in the tavern could play a significant role in easing the struggle.
In the barbarian lands, don't forget to visit the Seer's Hut behind the blue tent (you need to cross the body of water and have level 25): he will teach you Forgetfulness!
The anti-magic garrison with dragons on the way to the prison south of the Rampart does not need to be broken through: there is a bypass!
Capturing the Brown city Soul Crusher, where Terek sits, is not necessary immediately: losses are inevitable in this battle, and until you are sufficiently ready, it's better not to touch him.
After visiting the black tent, return and use a secondary hero to cross the water inside the circle formed by Castles: there are several other important objects there.
Playing as Necromancers, toward the end of the game keep an eye on the number of skeletons in one squad: they must not exceed 32767—neither through normal troop addition nor as a result of battle! Otherwise, a numerical overflow may occur, and the number of skeletons will become negative! Leave "extra" skeletons (over 30,000) in the city or give them to another hero. Only for the final battle can you take all skeletons with you.
The Elixir of Life obtained from the prime minister must be given immediately to the passage guard, but we can give the Luck Clover to a seer and receive the Ring of Life, which together with existing Vials of Life and the Ring of Vitality will assemble into a second Elixir.
The main villainess, Lea de Vuz, can be defeated by one of two methods:
a) for game masters and the hardcore: :) take everything best (hero, troops, artifacts) and try to defeat her in one battle;
b) for those who are weaker or simply don't like to strain themselves: ;) she can be weakened via hit-n-run, using only the Explosion spell (and the Silt Sphere). When you feel that you will now win in battle—attack. Good luck!

Since I was completing the map for the first time, I played as the prince-necromancer.
I freed all assistants and the queen, and dug up the Grail.
The battles with Kilgor and Terek were conducted by their former tribesman, Boragus: not only his primary skills but also expert Tactics were important.
The last 3 battles I fought with the defected prime minister: it was a kind of terrible revenge for Erdian for what was done to him. I wonder what the author himself would say about such a turn of events? :)
Lea de Vuz was defeated in one battle on the 6th month, 4th week, 2nd day. True, there wasn't enough mana to raise all the fallen, but the loss of 30 thousand skeletons is acceptable for a final battle with such an enemy!
Result: 163 days, 494 points.

Hans C. also created the map "The Uprising" (more difficult and considered his best work) and the campaign "Eternal Love". They are also in the collection of best maps. I plan to complete "The Uprising" someday, and I started "Eternal Love" a long time ago but quit: at that time it didn't interest me due to the total absence of a strategic component (the author focused on battle tactics).

Today, the **Fatum** map was played. I don't know what's so good about it; it's a map for **those who like to collect everything**. You can collect, collect, and collect resources almost endlessly. Cons: 1. There is absolutely no difficulty (. (This became clear immediately when I saw that you can start as any faction). 2. An overabundance of resources. There are so many that even Jebus would be envious. It really becomes a chore to collect all of this. There are also a ton of artifacts. There are also pros: good graphics. Conclusion: I **don't** recommend it.

Has anyone played Rise of the Sun King? It's quite challenging. There's no classic development in the usual sense (building and resource gathering), but very serious tasks arise right from the first turn. Unfortunately, this map is beyond my capabilities.

I'm planning to create a thread about pointless maps. If I have time, I'll continue playing and add to it. I'm writing only about my impressions, and the year the map was created doesn't matter to me; I'm abstracting from that.

Here's A Hegylakó. It's really about nothing. The map is basically collect all the resources (and there are a ton of them) and kill the enemy.
4 months of leisurely gameplay.

The second map, Reavers of the North, is slightly better; there's a battle with a Crimson Dragon. The rest is the same – pointless. You collect resources, easily kill all the enemies, but pay attention, there's a bonus! If you don't look in the editor, you're in for an "exciting journey" underground on a ship in a labyrinth. This is much harder than killing the Crimson Dragon.
In general, what I didn't like is that the powerful, pre-set heroes are locked away and waiting for their death. The same goes for the Green Dragon and the Crimson Dragon. Their fate is predetermined. There's no spark, no zest to it.
And yes, random events with 10 creatures are just ridiculous.

When playing as Necromancers, towards the end of the game, pay attention to the number of skeletons in a single unit: there cannot be more than 32767 of them – neither by adding troops normally nor as a result of a battle! Otherwise, a numerical overflow may occur, and the number of skeletons will become negative!

This is not true. I played with units of several hundred thousand – on the Ira the Mage map, with a total playthrough of 2000+ (!!!) MONTHS.

You just need to carefully "move" these units between slots so that they don't "reset".

For example, in a town, you cannot simply move such a unit from the upper slot (garrison) to the lower slot (hero) without it resetting. But you can detach, say, 30k units from the upper slot and add them to the same lower slot. This way, you can move a unit of any size.

There are other nuances, but, I repeat, units larger than 32767 are perfectly viable.

Added 2 minutes later
upd
I suspect that the upper limit of the unit size is limited by 31 or 32 bits, i.e., approximately 2 (4) billion units.

overall playthrough of 2000+ (!!!) MONTHS.

Oh my god:smile15: