Posts from Worshipper – “Conquest” [Campaign 2, Mission 3]

I won't side with the patch-haters... I was just too lazy to download the patch when I was playing through the campaigns... But I've already downloaded the patch and I'm going to play through it again with it...

Well, then I apologize. Just remember to download not one patch, but two - 1.4 and 1.5. Patch 1.5 is much smaller than 1.4. Let's end the off-topic discussion about patches in this thread.

I hope that after playing this mission in version 1.5, you'll tell us how much they've weakened Gilraen in this mission.

I've reached this mission in version 1.5... As far as I remember, in version 1.0, the starting army was significantly weaker... And during the first attack by Gilraen, it took a long time to try and keep my nightmares alive – but now he just RAN AWAY from me, without even trying to resist! Okay, let's see what happens next...

Added 34 minutes later
The restriction on building in the first Elven town has been removed – now there's a Castle...

Added 41 minutes later
No, I don't understand... Is this some kind of joke? I captured the second Elven town in the northwest corner, encountering almost no resistance, gathered some troops – and Gilraen appeared... With such a modest army... After my first attack with dryads (92:252 – mine:Gilraen), 53 of his units fell, his dryads attacked – and all of mine were wiped out, after which he RAN AWAY! Well, I agree, his army was significantly weaker... I didn't even see a single dragon! I understand that the developers wanted to make the mission easier... But not to THIS extent! It's just not interesting at all... :(

Nightly Edelweiss, in my opinion, Gilraen was nerfed in 1.5 even compared to 1.41. I was very surprised that a friend of my daughter's, who plays very poorly, easily beat her. I didn't see how he did it (he is currently having problems with the 2nd mission of the 3rd Campaigns — he doesn't listen to my advice). In 1.41, Gilraen emerged from the Castle with a strong army. Without the help of a leveled-up Druid hero, I wouldn't have handled him. On the other hand, in 1.5 there was no Sylvan hero in the tavern.

If you don't want to level up Agrail further, you can capture all the castles immediately, and the mission will end. Preferably before the end of the week, before he gathers a new army. I captured the nearest castle last. Even an unleveled Deleb handled it with weekly growth from the Castle and dwellings and a devil from the outpost. Either way, in the next mission you can easily level Agrail up to level 30.

I actually ran away too (in version 1.0, I couldn't complete it any other way). I even captured the upper right castle a couple of times and then abandoned it. It was already fully built, and I used it to upgrade my army and recruit new troops. I always planned it so that I would arrive on the last day of the week, take the troops, and leave without getting caught by Gilraen (he always returned to the castle when I approached). I had logistics upgraded, so he couldn't catch me. If I arrived, for example, in the middle of the week, Gilraen would summon his army, and staying in the castle for even three days was a luxury. In that time, he would get so close that he could intercept me anywhere.

That’s why I said that those who played through this mission in version 1.0 complained the most about its difficulty. The description of patch 1.1 states that they weakened Gilraen.

I maxed out Agrael in this mission – there was absolutely NO resistance from Gilraen; he just ran away. It’s true that now the green heroes capture your cities, even if they are empty and the green faction already has one city… But it’s not that problematic. I was surprised when a friend, who was playing Heroes for the first time and who plays by the principle of “gather a large army and overwhelm everyone with numbers,” said that she completed this mission on her first try, while I struggled with it for about a month and replayed it about 20 times. And only then did I find out that she had first patched the game to version 1.5…

...a friend who started playing Heroes for the first time and plays according to the principle of "accumulate as many troops as possible and crush everyone with sheer numbers."

I also play according to this principle.:) Of course, only in situations where my numbers grow faster than the enemy's. The AI, having many castles, doesn't realize it should give all its troops to one hero and crush me. Therefore, having 2 developed cities, I can almost always defeat all enemies one by one.

The AI's main tactic is to overwhelm with numbers rather than quality of heroes – while I have one strong hero roaming the map, many weak AI heroes capture castles, mines, and so on. And if the map is large, it's very difficult to keep track of them all.

What works for a warrior doesn't always work for a hero. In the first week, a druid hero appeared in the tavern again. However, I couldn't quickly capture the northwestern city. Without a solid army, I couldn't break through the horde of elementals. So, I took this city shortly before Gilraen arrived. The druid didn't have time to level up. Gilraen easily defeated the druid and Agrael, along with what remained of the army after the battle with the elementals. There was practically nowhere to run, as all the roads were blocked by difficult-to-defeat neutrals. Gilraen had 4 emerald dragons, 25 high druids, and everything else in decent numbers. All units were upgraded. The druid's army was much stronger than Agrael's. Therefore, I decided to start the mission again and change the plan – to do without the druid. I plan to give the druid army to Agrael and my own to Delab. I got her in the tavern on the second try to avoid spending money on a cart. There are catastrophically few resources for a hero to build a castle and buy troops. And Delab herself can do some things. Moreover, after visiting the dolmen of knowledge, her ballista will fire twice. Instead of mages, I decided to reach the elementals through elven archers and about 500 zombies. Archers, of course, cannot pass without losses. But three stacks of zombies can be broken through without losses by fairies alone, only it takes a very long time. Cerberuses killed them much faster. At the beginning of the mission, Gilraen, as a hero, doesn't run away from the battlefield. He killed all the imps and devils. The kraken, taken as a bonus, had to be left in reserve after a reload, as before the reload, Gilraen killed one of them. And they are needed to reduce the defense of the elementals.

Still, the mages need to be broken through as quickly as possible, since they guard the crystal cave, which is critically important for building up the druid castle. The archers and zombies can wait.

The hero Gilraen enchants an arrow with Berserk. I didn't even know that was possible, as I've never leveled up—and don't intend to level up—Dark Magic for an elf. After the battle, I received a scroll with this spell.

It's a good thing I attacked him in the open field, and computer heroes don't flee from the battlefield. Little remained of my army. If I had attacked him in the castle, he would have crushed me. I had slightly more dragons; druids and ents were roughly equal, but he had a huge advantage in all other units. After I captured both northern castles, Gilraen sat in the southern castle for several weeks, while Agrail practiced on neutrals. The northwestern one had to be captured twice. After Gilraen's defeat, Agrail fought neutrals until he leveled up to 24.

Well, thank you, colleagues, for the hint; I was struggling and suffering, not knowing how to complete this mission. There is only one solution – to be patient.

Added 10 hours and 47 minutes later
Guys, tell me how to play the third mission of Agrael in the second campaign for the Demons. I just captured the lower Elven Castle, and then that dog, Gilraen, arrived with a rather impressive squad for the beginning of the game (nine upgraded dragons and over 300 archers) and is tearing my army to shreds, not listening to the fact that I am a good guy and, in general, one of their own (half of my army consists of Elves). I tried to run around in circles, improving logistics and eliminating minor heroes along the way, but resources don't increase because everything I capture in one turn, he captures in the next. As a result, the demonic castle is stuck in the stage of producing nightmares, and in the Elven castle, I tried to leave a dark elf with a symbolic garrison (I don't remember the name; she plays a major role for the dark elves in the scenario), but Gilraen destroyed this garrison with just a few archer shots, and the mission is stuck: I, as Agrael, am running around in circles, attracting hordes of neutrals, but when I meet that damned avenger, I lose everything, and he only loses two or three dragons. And again, it's all for nothing – start over. Tell me, how can I complete this mission?

Zeratul, install the patch or reduce the difficulty. In version 1.00, this mission is the hardest to complete. In version 1.5, I even completed this mission without any major problems on the hero difficulty.

In any version, do not capture the lower elven castle until the druid circle is destroyed. Otherwise, neutral druids will multiply with terrifying force. After all, they can join the enemy.

Conquest:
Mission Three

Objectives:
1) Cross the border
2) Capture all elven cities (three of them)
3) Kill Gilraen (permanently)
4) Destroy the source of elven magic.

...I'm still playing through it now – I planned everything carefully, fought neutrals near the necessary mines with almost no losses, reached the key-holder's tent, killed the rakshasas; in the Castle there are already succubi and horses… then I rode to the military outpost, opened the gates and found succubi at the outpost. Such a shame… Not that I don't like them, but lords would have been better… I'll replay it over the weekend…

By the way, I have game version 1.0, so Gilraen (henceforth Gil) is tough and strong. But it's entirely possible to complete))

Walkthrough Tips:

Right... A lot has been said about this mission. Many tactics... I won't describe it step-by-step, just some tips...

1) Arm yourself with archdevil patience. Personally, I use the tactic of gathering more troops than the enemy and winning by numbers. Therefore, collecting them will take a long time...

2) First fight with Gil. The rascal has 3 druids, 8 archers, and 23-24 dancers... You have 15 succubi, 50 of one kind of imps, 32 of the second (hired in the Castle and nearby), 30 demons, and 4 horses (or 2 lords - depending on who you hired)... Demons, imps, and dogs create gates - you can place them right by the archers/druids... Succubi hit the archers (they can take down 5, if lucky - 7 units)... Then Gil fires a volley at your lords or horses (depending on who you have)... No matter how hard I tried, I still lost one of the strong units - Gil moves before Agrail (Gri). Gri moves - creates a phantom (I hope everyone took it in the second mission) on the succubi... The enemy druid moves - mine cast stone skin on the dancers... By this time, summoned creatures appear. Throw them into battle against the dancers... Succubi finish off the archers and hit the druids... When Gil moves, he attacks the phantoms. That's how we saved our troops)) He shouldn't reach us by the third turn... I'm not saying you won't lose troops with this tactic. I had losses - 1 dog, 1 horse, and about 19-23 imps... But these were minimal losses - I replayed the battle several times and didn't achieve a better result...

2) Fight with rakshasas (guarding the tent). There are about 23-24 of them... I fought them in the middle of the third week - there were already succubi, horses, dogs in the Inferno... 20 succubi, 6 horses, 50-60 dogs, 90 imps I think... Tactic - summon, phantom on the succubi... After the first turn of rakshasas - mark of the damned on one of the squads. Summoned creatures attack these rakshasas, they fight back, and take damage from Gri... Succubi hit other squads... You won't get away without losses, but it's entirely possible to win)) The main thing is that you are lucky later and find strong troops at the outpost (I was unlucky).

3) ...Let's say some amount of time has passed, you've slowly built up, accumulated an army, captured the two upper cities… DO NOT TOUCH THE LOWER ONE! Otherwise, elven troops will start being produced every week – there will be no escape from them. And considering that the source of druids is guarded by... ents I think... and by the time you reach them (+ neutrals and Gilraen)… In short, you might kill those druids, but it's not a fact you'll escape Gilraen. Therefore, we leave the lower city to the elves…
By the time both upper cities are captured, Gilraen may already have about 25 dragons (more or less doesn't really matter – what matters is that there are MANY of them and all his other troops are 100-500 units)… while you have a battered army and money is only just starting to trickle in from the elven cities. Further tips are based on the fact that the two upper elven cities are yours, but you don't have a strong army yet…

Tips (what should be and how to handle it):

1) Logistics and pathfinding – otherwise you'll be running far.
If Gilraen (henceforth Gil) (or whoever you are running from) doesn't have logistics – then there are no particular problems at all. That was the case in one of my playthroughs – then Agrail raced in circles, managed to pop into castles, buy up and lead away the army (as much as he could buy)… In general, he could easily shake off pursuit… He ran for a long time gathering an army, but without much stress…

If suddenly Gil also has logistics or you suddenly don't have logistics and can't make it into castles to buy troops, you can:

A) Hire a hero – he buys the troops, pops out of the castle to meet yours, hands them over… then dies to Gil. It's better for him to die in the open field so that Gil doesn't capture the castle. (This option is bad because eventually new heroes will stop appearing in the tavern…)

B) the "pass it to another" option - I used this tactic when I first completed the mission (to a victorious end). There was no logistics. Several heroes were hired – I waited for the moment when Gil was two or three turns away from your road (leading to Inferno). A hired hero was sent into elven lands. He rode to the castle, and Gil followed him… Your hero has a lead of several turns, Gil has logistics… with every turn he gets closer… You ride and pray that he doesn't catch up… You make a loop… if you're lucky – you run through both castles; if time is short – just one… When 1-2 turns remain until the saving road to Inferno (which Gil does not enter), this elf will literally be breathing down your hero's neck (mine was). Another warrior is sent as backup and intercepts the army from him. The first hero, who so selflessly obtained this army, dies on the next turn (caught up after all)… but the second carries the army away and adds it to those previously obtained. This option is also bad because eventually there will simply be no heroes in the tavern and no one to run… Also, this option eats a lot of nerves. But it can be improved as follows:

C) The "diversionary maneuver" option. If it's completely unbearable and troops are few and he's catching up – try bringing Agrail (or someone else) with a strong demonic army toward the lower city. Gil might give up on chasing your hero and rush to protect the last castle. While he's jerking back and forth, we successfully manage to shake off pursuit, hire troops, run back to our territory… in short, scare him with the capture of the castle…

4) Regarding troops in cities. In elven cities, no troops or heroes should be stationed! Otherwise Gil will strive to recapture the city, which we don't need…

5) Regarding the army – it's better not to give Gil a reason to suspect that your army is becoming stronger. Because things don't always happen the same way.
In one playthrough, Gil saw that my Agrail was stronger, turned around and bolted (now Gri had to catch him))

In another - he holed up in the last castle and when I killed him, a message first appeared that the cities were captured, then the objective to kill Gil. I had to load an earlier save and replay

And in yet another playthrough – he rushed into the nearest castle (one of the upper ones) to replenish his army. And when I tried to lure him away with one hero while taking the castle back with another, he first ran, but at the very last moment (the rascal) decided to teleport into that recaptured city…

The problem is solved by transferring half (a third or two thirds) of the obtained army to someone sitting on demonic territory where the enemy doesn't stick his nose. You don't need to give everything – there's a risk that some elf-hero with a hundred peasants and 20 ents will jump out from the remaining city to intercept your hero (and you might have, say, 80 dryads… And it's game over for the hero… Therefore we carry the army with us – so other heroes are intimidated, but Gil is not afraid and doesn't think of replenishing his troops… Meanwhile, we will slowly gather a stronger and larger army))

4) Keep in mind... keep in mind that there are morale and luck boosters on the territory… During my first playthrough I gathered an army twice as large as Gil's (I had 70 dragons – he had 32, I had 200 unicorns, he had 80… and so on)… But Gil turned out to have maxed out morale and luck; he moved more often, hit with double damage… smashed the army to pieces… What saved me was that I transferred the army to another hero, and then Gri finished off the already battered Gil with his demonic army. Of course it's not fair two against one, but he asked for it… Let's not forget that we can (and should) also maximize our own morale and luck…

5) Don't forget the order of objectives – first three elven cities (they should be red on the map – and the objective marked with a check), then Gil (capture the last city so that Gil is within reach. So that in one turn you can grab the city and immediately attack and kill. If Gil is far away (closer to the upper cities – wait until he descends, as he might take an upper city, which we don't want…). After killing Gil, find the source of druid magic, fight your way through, kill it… mission completed))

6) And don't forget to save. Before attempting to run a loop on the road to collect troops from elven cities – save. Before turning into a city for troops – save in a new slot; before the second city again in a new one… if you ran successfully – you can save in the first one again)) Before battles (where you're not sure of an absolute victory) save. I replay some battles to achieve the maximum loss-free outcome of the fight…

In version 1.41, I had devils guarding the outpost with my Warrior. In version 1.5, the hero didn't even reach the outpost. And without it, Agrael defeated Gilraen and reached the limit of his development.

Maybe I’m just a terrible player (although, generally speaking, I’ve been completing all games on higher difficulty levels for a long time), but I couldn’t complete this mission on difficulty level 1.5 at all; now I’m playing on 1.6, and the odds are more or less equal… I hope I’ll be able to complete it with your advice.