Posts from Savage grin

Cas, you still need to know how to play!

Well, I don't know, Marmot, how well you play if you reached Rampart 1 on the 8th month.

I, on the other hand, killed all the AI on 3-3-1 and am now facing Lucifer.

But I feel that without a hit-and-run tactic, my 120 archers + 150 angels + 60 gold dragons + 500 snipers won't be able to do anything.

Added 2 hours 3 minutes ago
Ugh, on 3-3-1, nothing can be done, everything is killed except for the Azure stack.
Apparently, I just need to press "skip turn" for several months to build up an army.

Well, gather your army if there's no other way! :) Clear the remaining part of the map, collect useful items, learn new useful spells... Who's to blame but yourselves for rushing? ;)

So, here's my report.
I completed the map on 4-3-1 difficulty (in 99 days).
It wasn't without a bit of trickery – I had two almost identical heroes: Mullich and Gunnar. First, on 3-3-1, I attacked with Mullich, taking all the slots with 5 Azure Dragons each. Considering his special ability and cloak, he had the highest initiative, and with Berserk, he wiped out all the enemy troops except for the stack of Azure Dragons. (After two such raids, I paid them off each time without any losses). The Azure Dragons didn't decrease in number.

Then, I decided to build up my army, and during this time, I cleared the remaining territory of the Rampart faction and leveled up Gunnar (I wanted to use him in the final battle, as he had better skills – Mullich couldn't get the Defense skill). The two huts with the +5 attack quest were very helpful here.

At the same time, I continued to monitor the castle with Lucifer.
And what did I see? This idiot AI filled all its slots with junk, and left the stack of Azure Dragons in the castle. I immediately rushed there with Gunnar and punished him, then I finished off the Azure Dragons in the castle with a zero-level hero.

Would Lucifer have defeated the Azure Dragons? – I don't know, maybe, but with significant losses.

So, it seems that my strategy was similar to that of A_l_e_k_c.

Added after 3 hours 59 minutes

learn new useful spells...

I placed the Grail in the Conflux in the underground. So, I got all the magic (except for Flight and Direct Damage, which the map author probably disabled)

Samatron, thank you for the map; it was a good game. The ending was the only downside – the centaurs that spawned during one of the weeks occupied the landing zone on the Isle of Lucifer, so I had to cheat and learn the Flight spell. In the future, I would like to see such key locations be larger. As a result, with an army of 100 archons, 100 titans, and some smaller units, using the Vulnerability medal and Cursed Armor, along with successive Blindness and successive reduction of all enemy defenses, the enemy was defeated on the first attempt. But the "cheater" rank didn't make me happy.

The map can be completed on the impossible difficulty level in just over a month (of course, fairly), and the strength of Lucifer's army doesn't matter. I would like to know what the current record time for completing the map is.

Added 20 minutes later
Advice to the map author: don't give in to any whining in the future (like, it's too hard). If someone doesn't want to use their brain, that's their problem, and for those who are weaker (non-heroes), you should create a separate sandbox. But the map is quite good, well done.

The map is excellent. Samatron, you did a great job. But Lucifer was still weakened. With the help of a Berserker, he destroyed himself, even though I had strengthened him while playing the map for the second time.

The map can be completed on the impossible difficulty level in just over a month (of course, fairly), and the strength of Lucifer's army doesn't matter. I would like to know what the current record time for completing the map is.

Added 20 minutes later
Advice to the map author: don't give in to any whining in the future (like, it's too hard). If someone doesn't want to use their brain, that's their problem, and for those who are weaker (non-heroes), you should create a separate sandbox. But the map is quite good, well done.

Vampire_de_Sad, Yuretz, eLPuegO, Cas - please, and thank you all for your feedback.

It is very difficult to skillfully apply Berserk and counter it.

Yes, countering it is difficult, but applying it is much easier...
Moreover, there's a bug where Berserk is applied to a stack, and the nearest cells for attacking the nearest unit are blocked by an obstacle; then the stack simply stops and that's it, after that you can hit them with magic, shoot them, etc. - honestly, Berserk is just a legal cheat.

The Berserker bug in ND+ has been fixed.
In TC3 (arena), winning with a Berserker also requires a certain level of skill, and it's not as easy as it seems.

Hello, fellow Heroes fans! After "Lost City," I started playing "The Skull," but I didn't quite get into it and paused. I decided to play Samatron's card game again and picked this one up. I'll join in with the positive reviews – it's a great map! Initial conditions: I almost always play on 100% difficulty, so there are probably some differences. Brief impressions and plot: 1) The game has a "signature" style, I would say. You develop peacefully, and when the time comes, you start to put pressure on others. This is how I defeated the "Gray" player with his Fafnir and other "tough guys." However, one of them did try to attack – he infiltrated my lands, but was quickly defeated. Another heroine (by the way, with 200+ Titans) got completely stuck on an island; I couldn't defeat her at that time, but I took advantage of the situation, captured all the "Towers," and thus eliminated this Brissa or whatever her name was... 2) Then, things started to pick up. I captured some territories and ventured into the Dungeon. There, a cat-and-mouse game began. Behind the gates and in the mountains, a strong Orange player was lurking. First, I sent my second hero through the "Teleport" (only thanks to the Shield of Belzebul that I collected; I couldn't get through the gates – the white tent wasn't open, as it was guarded by legions of Titans), checked things out, and was defeated. I gathered some troops, gave the main hero the shield, and almost effortlessly defeated the Orange player without any losses. 3) Thanks to the cartographer, a large area and a castle with Lucifer were revealed. I moved there again with my second hero to take a look – I was defeated by hordes of elementals, phoenixes, azure dragons, and other creatures. However, it turned out that Lucifer, although he possessed a powerful army, was surprisingly weak (like 1/1). Was this "weakening" intentional, or did it just happen that way? Anyway, after some time, I went to him with my main hero and, after losing all my golden dragons (200+) and many other creatures, but with the remaining Titans, treants, and pegasi, I emerged victorious (details in screenshot 1). 4) It seemed that all the difficulties were behind me, but that was just an illusion. I started exploring the other castles, found the Devil's castle, and the third campaign began. Initially, I went there with a weakened army after the previous battle and was defeated again: their main hero was quite developed, and a legion of mages did a lot of damage. Only after a long time of gathering troops (without the "City Portal," this was not easy), I gathered Titans, mermaid archers, high-level snipers, golden dragons, and others and decided to clear out the Devil's forces. I teleported behind the enemy lines (they were clustered near the gates) and entered one of the Pink player's empty cities, removed the shield, put on all the main armor, and waited. The main enemy immediately rushed inside. Following the established tradition, I shot down everyone with Titans from the dense ranks, and then finished off the particularly daring dogs and other creatures that had infiltrated the castle with nagas, treants, and dwarves. I blinded the mages and attacked them as best I could, and in the end, as was destined, I won. It was easy and decisive to eliminate the remaining weak heroes one by one. 5) The final stage remained – the Green player. It was easy to reach him, but based on previous experience, I decided to gather more troops. The "City Portal" that appeared helped a lot. In the end, I went to the remaining "remnants" of the Dungeon with 2x150+ Titans and the rest of my comrades and defeated them one by one. Thus, Victory was achieved! 6) Some general comments: a) One piece of land with chests (near the Red player's starting castle) turned out to be inaccessible. b) One of the fortresses was guarded by a guard with 2 foliant mages, which could only be obtained in the later stages of the game, and for some reason, there was an impassable guard there – it could only be opened by another player (Orange) or by going through a teleport to a special zone, where you could lose your army. In general, 1 city remained inaccessible, but it wasn't worth it. c) The Grail is found quite easily; I obtained it and placed it, which is a plus. d) I didn't like the legions of Titans at the white tent; maybe I should have found it and approached them earlier... this also applies to 2-3 garrisons with dragons, although there were useful artifacts behind them, it wasn't worth it. e) Hidden teleports and summoning locations still exist (someone wrote the opposite): I accidentally found one entrance, but I got into a trap from which I couldn't escape without the "City Portal."

I played as Fortress. I didn't rush, and in many places, I took my time – I captured the 3rd Elven castle with the treasure room and the outer structures (10 angels and 10 dragons) only on the 4th month after killing all the enemies at the top. Therefore, I always lacked money, even to buy all the dragons. At the beginning, I played with only dragons and the vulnerability medal. I dug up the Grail around the same time, and as a result, in the Castle, I had a +24 angels per week with the legionnaire statue in that castle. Before Lucifer, I didn't have enough money to buy all the angels and dragons; I had 100 dragons and 100 angels left in the castles, but even so, with the vulnerability medal and the destructive beam, I easily defeated him. I didn't use Berserk because I'm not a fire expert. And it's not interesting that way. And then I couldn't find the entrance to the last gray castle – the Necropolis; I thought there was nothing hidden on this map, but there was :) In the end, I defeated him last. 130 days and 490 points. The map turned out to be easy but quite interesting. I haven't seen such an increase in angels before :eek:

Do you always have to break through a defense where there are hordes of wizards and 50 different dragons?

Added 1 minute ago
This is for the humans.

Do you have to break through a stronghold where there are hordes of Wizards and 50 different dragons?

Where is this?

Editor to help.

The editor is a great help.

The game is a great help too!) I played through this map again :smile13: and now I see where and what is behind the garrison.

In general, I'm updating my impressions:

1) Overall, after the previous spectacular playthrough of "Skull", this map was much less enjoyable. The relatively insufficient amount of resistance and quests had an impact.

2) I fought for the Castle with the wonderful Catherine. For a while, I wandered around, developed, and no one crossed my path. When I finally met Fafnir, he didn't seem scary. His companions, accordingly, didn't last long either...

3) Somewhere around the 7th month, I finally made it to the Dungeon with certain intentions and didn't even break the outer guard; I just flew over them to the Conflux (to the previous commenters - yes, "flight" is possible!). The heroes there also turned out to be not strong enough and were defeated. At the same time, I reached Lucifer for the first time, had a trial battle, of course, I was defeated, but I learned that even a relatively weak army was enough to inflict 1/3 of the army's losses.

4) Next, I went on a path of development and accumulation of strength. Here I note that there was a significant lack of gold for all needs, there was only one "treasury", but that's okay, it helped. I supplemented it with an amulet "+15 coins")).

5) In the meantime, I defeated the reds, who didn't even leave their location. It turned out to be unusual, because in the previous, long-ago playthrough, the infernals definitely came out and it was difficult with them, and other rivals were also well-developed. But now it turned out to be a failure: an average Fafnir -> several weakly developed rivals of various kinds (although some had good armies) and then only Lucifer himself.

6) Finally, having accumulated enough gold and gems, I upgraded the titans to thunderbirds (I also wanted archangels, but I didn't have enough resources) - I got a crushing army for a decisive victory and went on the final campaign. Lucifer was defeated, there were no options)))

In general, the whole thing took almost 12 months.

Thank you all for your feedback, it was interesting to read, special respect to Samatron!)