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Heroes Community > MapHaven Guild > Thread: Let's Play: ~Metataxer's Revenge~
Thread: Let's Play: ~Metataxer's Revenge~ This thread is 14 pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 · «PREV / NEXT»
Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted February 03, 2016 11:18 PM

Very inspiring walkthrough, thanks again. And I am glad my interface mods are for once useful.

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 04, 2016 07:24 AM bonus applied by angelito on 29 Apr 2016.
Edited by RoseKavalier at 07:40, 04 Feb 2016.

Salamandre said:
Very inspiring walkthrough, thanks again. And I am glad my interface mods are for once useful.


Your interface mods are incredible! Saves a lot of time saving/loading/looking at editor.

~~~

This will be the last update for a few days, I have to go away for business. I'd hoped to cover until A Friend's transformation but it will have to wait.

123

Mr. Vertigo tries catching up with A Friend. Visit the movement boosters and also enter the Stronghold... the Hall of Valhalla brings a much needed +1 Attack for 1,000 gold.



Follow the path until you come to the garrison... this time pick up the Gargoyles.


For the next portion, we'll be juggling heroes a bit around.

*There's an event with Tactics right in front of the Tan hero, which is meant for Mr. Vertigo.
*Vertigo must therefore not reach level 13, that is no more than 8,021 exp before he learns Tactics.
*The Mages are holding a 'Spellbook' artifact. If you visit them with A Friend, the spellbook will be stuck with him. The transformed A Friend would thus be stuck without a spellbook (will be shown later).



Conclusion: kill Elementals with A Friend but let Mr. Vertigo grab the spellbook, it will be sent to his backpack.

Set up like this:



This fight is kind of a safe version of one in Way Home. Safe in the sense that you don't need good RNG to win!


Place the lone Titan at the chokepoint and shoot away.


Fun fact: Psychic Elementals deal half damage to units immune to Mind spells, such as Titans.

This adds ease to making a safe puzzle!

Basically the only worry should be to protect the Ballista, so focus on stacks getting too close to it.



You can get Morale here but the enemy can't. But you don't even need it, here I defended for purpose of showing.


Target the larger stacks with as little overflow damage as you can manage.



Ballista is saved!




Now start juggling. A Friend moves 6 and Vertigo visits the Mages.



Upgrade them and marvel at your second spellbook, sponsored by WoG Editor.


Mr. Vertigo now goes 1 north of A Friend, allowing the latter to grab gems - ignore the gold for now, there is no use for it.



A Friend goes back to his previous position and trades with Vertigo... send him all troops and some artifacts. The Grail is particularly important...


Ok, take a step forward. We are informed that we should set up a strategic trap!




This is an easier version of the Benbird fight from Way Home. You can use disposable units (gargoyles) to protect your shooters in order to win with no (minimal) losses.

Here is where we can hide to recreate the safe spot:


Since AI is greedy, it will kill the most units it can. This can be used to control its movement! Place the 2 Gargoyles in a way that will block the north access for 2-hex units.


Griffins will act before the Champions... since north access is blocked, they will move to east access, and block Champions! Thus, Champions waste a turn.

Trufftruff has a few spells, but none are lethal to you, in general you can just ignore them...


Notice the placement on the shooters... not an accident.


Cast Frost Ring and attack the stronger Zealots. Ideally, you'll want to kill the Zealots, but this might not be possible if your hero has low attack. If this happens like in the video, you will unfortunately have to rely on MGenies or Enchanters to cast Air Shield


With the new starting file, it's not an issue, Mr. Vertigo is quite strong! Gargoyles can wait/defend.


If Vertigo receives some attack, he can kill the Archangels in 2 turns. If he doesn't see how to kill them in the video.


Without Air Shield, Enchanters barely survive the attack from Marksmen combined with Disrupting Ray. 1-hex units come forward and Champions sit tight.


Next round, AAs resurrect Zealots. MGenies wait for better timing... Cast Frost Ring again and Titan tries to kill Zealot for good. If you fail again, we'll need to kill them with Frost Ring next round as in video.



Again, have Enchanters wait. Their speed 11 means they will act again after Champions have Defended


Now that everybody has moved, we get our turn with Enchanters and MGenies. First Enchanter kills AAs... if not enough attack, finish them off with MGenies as per video.


Next round, MGenies retreat to the safe place, Titan kills Crusaders (if they don't die, no worries, they will kill Gargoyle and block Enchanter from shooting). If it fails, you can also finish them off with a spell while Vertigo shoots Griffins.



Griffins will either stay put or move North to the other access. Either way, they can't reach us yet. The only difference will be where Champions go.


Next round, there is a possibility that Titan can kill Griffin with 1 shot. If so, kill them with Titan and kill Champions with Enchanters.

If not, then you may need to cast a spell on Griffins - only if they remained at the east access which would let Champions hurt us.



At the cost of 4 Gargoyles, Trufftruff is gone!




Go into the Dragon's Eye and build a Citadel... then the Skyship.





Since A Friend picked up some Gems a bit earlier, buy 1 Titan, 4 MGenies and 6 ArchMagi. There is exactly the right amount of gold!



Go back to Vertigo's position 1N of A Friend. The latter trades with Vertigo and takes pretty much everything. Be CAREFUL with the spellbook, transfer it manually.



Press V...


This is an easy fight, split up Titans and walk them right in the Archmagi's face.





Flag the Gem Pond... we'll need a lot of gems.


A word of advice regarding non-pathfinding heroes:
*if you have only native creatures, there is no terrain penalty, this is well known.
*if you have NEUTRAL units, you can avoid the penalty by placing them to the left in the order of your creatures
*if you walk over Cursed Ground... you're out of luck, it cancels out native-creature blessing. You will pay the full movement penalty

Example:



Anyhow, we're not heading west but rather East.


There is 1 spare movement... we can't do anything with it unfortunately. If you didn't visit the Rally Flag a third time on 122, then there is no spare movement at all. Swan Pond will swallow your movement for the day, BUT it won't do it multiple times unless you take another fight.


Spend the last of Vertigo's movement...


Our final objective is this:





~~~

There are many possibilities with the map now, it becomes open and you can try your luck at finding optimal paths... it's quite challenging and takes quite some time. This does 2 things:
1- not as many pictures needed for future updates regarding movement;
2- more delay between updates as I tweak things to my liking.

Obviously also depends on my free time.

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 08, 2016 03:55 PM
Edited by RoseKavalier at 00:38, 10 Feb 2016.

Let's move forward one more day, shall we?

124

First off, the army is on A Friend but it needs to be swapped to Mr. Vertigo.




Vertigo will grab the wood next to the Market then attack the Naga Queens. A Friend's path is also shown below.



This fight may look like you need a lucky 'Slow' cast from the Enchanters, but in reality, you don't need anything! Arrange your troops as shown below. Nagas will first move toward the bigger MGenie stack (the ones on rows A, C, ...) until the way is blocked off, which leads one Naga stack to slightly head toward the lone MGenie on top. Shooters wait.


Result is this. Now the top 2 stacks are within range of shooters and you can kill them without spells or even without casts from MGenies. Once that is done, you can count tiles to show that the 2 closest Nagas cannot reach the top right corner of the battlefield, so that'll be a safe spot to send our kite.




The hard part is done, now it's relatively simple kiting to finish it. Keep killing the stacks that are problematic.




Kill the last stack, no RNG, no sweat.



Easy levels are best levels.


Now we need to grab a few troops for A Friend. He will go to Vertigo... he just has enough movement to accomplish everything required of him as we will see.


Give four Enchanters to A Friend, no more, no less. Also give him half of the MGenies... make sure he keeps the 'Spellbook' and the 'Boots of Levitation'.


Since we visited the Swan Pond at the end of 123, we can step on it without having to lose all our movement points. Grab the Stone and trigger the next fight.


You can do this with two ways:
1- trigger slow with Enchanters then it's easy
2- trigger useful spells with MGenies (Prayer,Precision,Bless,Frenzy,Slayer)


Either way, Behemoths will be slain before they can kill anything.



Collect 10 Ore and build the Castle in the Tower. There's an event during the night that removes Ore/Gold so make sure to spend all of it.



Now Vertigo can make his progress. This Quest Guard asks for 35 Enchanters... there's no other way. So you can see why you can't send more than 4 Enchanters with A Friend.


Set up for the next fight, take off Spirit of Oppression, we're facing Skeletons only.



For this fight, you will see that the video is slightly different in position. The reason is quite simple: video was done with previous starting file and Vertigo had fewer Attack points. In this file, the AI evaluates stack power differently (Attack & Defense have an impact) and the strategy shown in the video would not work. But fortunately, this setup does!


Titans wait and kiter moves forward. All other MGenies try to cast the best spell for Titan: 'bless'. The other's don't help that much.


All Skeletons except the first stack will move toward the Kiter. With Bless, Titans can kill the stack in 2 hits.


The hard part is now done, set up for kiting!



Avoid shooting when they are too far...If Bless does not trigger, you will need 3 hits to kill 200 skeletons. In that case, they might walk forward but they should still be too slow to inflict any damage.


Last skellies...


Rodriguez is down.


Vertigo has enough movement to visit the Mercenary Camp for +1 Attack. Because of a previously mentioned event, don't go for the gold before 125. In my case, I will only pick it up later as I've planned my movement carefully so far (you will see how far ahead this is done much later). The general direction of A Friend is also shown...


Back to A Friend, put on your Rain Boots,we have a few puddles to cross.


Before we go transform, step right in front of this Quest Guard. We can't open it just yet, but we can remove this annoying event which would be problematic in a few days. (More on this on 127).



Now head to the prison. 2 water tiles and a Sign means there's only one way in and one way out... no 2 Heroes can come out alive.


We get some information regarding the spellbook. User interface has since improved and the program does not freeze. You can also directly equip it by alt + left-click on the spellbook.


Cross the 3 Quest Guards...




Open up the Chocolate Box and we find Orrin.


With 138 movement left, A Friend performs (Dessa) his last action of the game: swap everything with A Friend (Orrin).



No way out for poor Dessa, and he's blocking Orrin's path. Get rid of him. A Friend is now officially transformed! He Gains a spellbook, Wisdom at the expense of Logistics and Artillery.



Walk over water and head to the Quest guard.


Only a knight will come through here!


A Friend's done as well, don't forget your running shoes.


Spend all your gold, I recommend Obsidian Gargoyles and whatever else you fancy.




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bloodsucker
bloodsucker


Legendary Hero
posted February 08, 2016 08:09 PM

I don't believe I've been losing this. This is my type of fights, even if I have some difficulty in even imagine they could go that far... Thanks for sharing this with us.

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Nikos
Nikos


Adventuring Hero
posted February 09, 2016 11:12 AM

Rosekavalier, I suggest that you add a link to this great walkthrough on maps4heroes. Congratulations once more!

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 09, 2016 04:30 PM
Edited by RoseKavalier at 00:37, 10 Feb 2016.

bloodsucker said:
I don't believe I've been losing this. This is my type of fights, even if I have some difficulty in even imagine they could go that far... Thanks for sharing this with us.

Hehe, more to come!
Nikos said:
Rosekavalier, I suggest that you add a link to this great walkthrough on maps4heroes. Congratulations once more!

I think I should finish it first before I start sharing it elsewhere.

Several days of update this time, but not that much interesting in terms of fighting.

~~~

125
On the 12th day of Metataxer, Biobob took from me: (in fact, this event eats 30,000 gold and 5 Ore, but gives you 5 Gems and a Blacksmith).


As I've previously said, I'm easing up on amount of details now that the map is no longer 'scripted', meaning that you can do pretty much what you want without fear of losing.

Here you can see the important jobs of each hero, Vertigo red and A Friend blue. The empty red tile is an event giving you 30 Mercury which is used at the Seer hut.




On his way to the Seer Hut, A Friend finds his lost experience and some stats.



Visit the seer hut and we find the Enchanters walked across the Mountains.


Fight these hydras, set up as shown otherwise Hydras will move differently (remember they move to juiciest target first but also to closest so here the top Hydra is closer to the MGenie at A3 than to the kiter).


Enchanter is strong enough to one-shot everything.



You don't need 'slow' spell from Enchanters, the Hydras will follow the kiter.






Pick up the things I showed earlier then put on 'Boots of Levitation', we're meeting up with Vertigo.



Leave only 1 MGenie on A Friend - take away the Ballista even.


Vertigo can visit this shrine to learn 'Summon Boat' as well as pick up a few things before coming back. If you go to the blue circle, you can also pick up the Treasure Chest because the Gloves can be picked up with Horizontal movement rather than vertical (41 movement saved).



Vertigo comes back and trades again. Give the 'Boots of Levitation' to A Friend.



Now Vertigo heads in the water, try to get the ship 1N of Vertigo so as to not block A Friend's path. 103 movement left is just enough, thanks to the corrected movement.



A Friend inches closer to Easter Island (it looks like an Easter Egg to me at least).




126
During the night, Carrot Pit tries to free up his buddy... but the Enchanters are no more.


A Friend moves to the Cloud Temple while Vertigo goes next to the shore with the whole army - but doesn't disembark, there's an event there anyway that prevents landing.



A Friend may only have 1 MGenie for army, but he has a few spell points to make the difference. Don't hire any yet.



As you can see, the movement of Dessa on 124 to remove the event draining spell points is useful here. Without it, I could not both capture the Titan dwelling and kill Rubicone, our intended target of this trip.


So why is it so important? It adds quite a few troops to our ranks.
Before & After




127

Now do hire 1 Giant so that we have maximum speed to start the day.


Our plan for the day: take the army from Vertigo and kill Rubicone.


If you have slightly too much army, Rubicone will hide in the Sanctuary. Heck, even 1 Titan scares her into hiding, see this video:


Swap army with Vertigo and go stop by the Well on your way to Rubicone. Vertigo's actions are shown but will occur after you kill Rubicone.



Split up your troops and place them as shown. Because Rubicone is in fact Iona, her specialty is Genies so their speed is 12. This means that our Enchanters (speed 11) will act before her Titans (speed 11) because we are attacker.



Titans target Magi, Enchanters kill Titan.


She will send her MGenies forward, you can kill them with your own.


The only tricky part here is that ArchMagi survivors might number from 7~9 approximately. At 9, they are able to kill 1 Enchanter. At 8, it is a bit of a dice roll. So if they do kill Enchanters, reload. (You can see previous shot has 9 alive - I reloaded). You can also simply hit them with a spell, A Friend will be able to regenerate his SP a bit later and he has plenty at this time.


Once round 1 is done, the fight is basically over. Titans can finish off ArchMagi and Nagas, Enchanter kills Golems.


Now Vertigo can visit the Seer in the sea and pick up 1 Black Dragon. Visit the other objects and go ashore as shown.







131
Visit these places with Vertigo and go back to the boat. The circled tile to the left contains an event with a few stats, 'Dispel' and an event that removes 10 Mercury. Since we have no mercury now, it's the best time to trigger it.



Back to A Friend, visit the Seer on the island to learn 'Slow'.


Take a moment to pick up 10,000 gold here.




132

Vertigo comes down to be met with A Friend, we need maximum speed on A Friend for a few days.




Vertigo can pick up a few more things in the water on the next day, he's too far to land today. A Friend goes back toward our Tower town.


Always check your last diagonal step... you never know when 41+ movement can save you.




133

If you don't know there's a hidden artifact here, View World (V) will tell you.


When Vertigo comes ashore, make certain that you don't land diagonally. Having this freed up tile for later will save spell points and/or movement. A Friend steps on the Oasis, visits the Library of Enlightenment (there are a few Peasants you can kill there) then back on the Oasis to finish his trek where Dessa once stopped in the previous week - leaving a passage for Vertigo towards the Tower.




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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted February 10, 2016 09:05 AM

How does transformation work? Does Friend have Logistics and Archery bonus now?
____________
The future of Heroes 3 is here!

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 10, 2016 05:15 PM

Warmonger said:
How does transformation work? Does Friend have Logistics and Archery bonus now?


That would certainly be nice, but this is a SoD map so it's a 'transformation' in the sense that you start with Dessa but when you free Orrin from the prison, Dessa is in the way so he gets dismissed.

So you only have Orrin left who only has Archery specialty. See images from 124 below, importance is to watch for 'Battle Mage' and 'Knight' which distinguishes both heroes.




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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted February 10, 2016 05:54 PM

It still looks like Orrin has a lot of movement points.
____________
The future of Heroes 3 is here!

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 10, 2016 06:11 PM

Warmonger said:
It still looks like Orrin has a lot of movement points.


Fairly standard considering he gets Expert Logistics from event (see 125):

Speed 11+ units = 2,000 base movement
Expert Logistics = +30% = +600 movement
Boots of Speed = +600 movement
Equestrian's Glove = +300 movement
---
3,500 movement

Eventually 3,900 with Stables (+400).
Logistics specialist would receive +30 movement/level extra given these conditions.

Compared to 'Dracon' (Vertigo), 'Orrin' (A Friend) can have 600 more movement but no Pathfinding.

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 12, 2016 09:34 PM
Edited by RoseKavalier at 21:45, 12 Feb 2016.

Let's wrap up the third week.

134

Vertigo goes to town, buys new creatures and upgrades them. He won't have quite enough movement to meet back with A Friend but we can deal with that.



Unlike me, don't forget to buy an Ammo Cart for later.


Vertigo has... 299 movement just 1 shy of making that last step Anyhow, A Friend can bridge the gap...


Send the war machines to Vertigo, not A Friend. Because I replayed this after recording, I decided to bring along Gargoyles for later as they are fodder. So small discrepancy between screenshots and videos... but process is still the same.


Here is Friend's itinerary for the day.


There are 4 combats but all very simple.

#1 Enchanters can kill 7 enemy Titans, enemy can't kill 1 Titan.


#2 This one is similar. You don't even need to cast 'Slow'.


#3 Garrison fight is just slightly more difficult because you can't kill stuff fast enough. Cast slow and prepare kiting.



Efreet comes forward... when you kill him Pit Lord will raise Demons. Because ground beneath is 'lava', they have 6 movement. They're far enough to not reach our shooters.


Now all you have to do is kite, they won't move close to shooters... you may need to adjust a bit to get them closer but you have enough shots anyway.



Done. An alternative is to kill the Pit Lords first so that no Demons are raised... in this case I feel it's free exp so why not kill them.


On the road to #4, you get some welcome spell points.


Speaking of which, repeat the same process.




135

Vertigo visits these objects and heads as close to the Enchanters as he can (should be 3N).


Back to Friend, time to check View World...


Hidden behind Rogue Caverns... clever. Do recruit some fodder.



And collect the Orb!


Step on the windmill and set up for a slightly more challenging fight.


Cast slow and position your troops as follow. It's important to keep the enemy Titans within 10 tiles of your 2 big shooters.


Bad damage roll on Titans but Enchanters always kill a stack.


The enemy retaliates, hurting 2 Titans and killing Rogues.


This round, Enchanters kill one of the top enemy while Titan hurts the second bottom stack. Your bottom Titan should defend, this will result in the bottom enemy to target the newcomer who has fewer defense points at that moment.



As predicted... now pull back the weakest Titan from the bottom and finish off the enemy with no real casualties.



Not only are these enemy Titans required for opening some Quest Guards, they are also blocking Forgetfulness. Yummy!


A Friend now starts heading back towards Mr. Vertigo.


Movement is still carefully being planned at this step... see for yourself:




136

First part of Vertigo's itinerary. First swap with A Friend.



Unlike me, you should not forget to buy Ammor Cart Make certain to also swap the Necklace of Ocean Guidance... it really makes a difference in the coming days as you will see.


Enchanters fight: I hate fighting these guys... but you gotta do it. Start with Forgetfulness.


Set up kiting and cast slow (in this screenshot, my Enchanters cast slow, but video shows you without).


Now the important part: hope that RNG can avoid two spells for enemy: 'haste' & 'cure'. Both mean an immediate reload

You can win with no losses if RNG is nice to you... might take a few attempts


Collect the artifact and 5 Titans! Also, equip the water boots.


Because I'm still heavily planning my movement, the following is possible. Vertigo could, on paper, collect this Pandora's Box (it has 6 spell points, don't need). So you can see that after getting to 1S of the Magic Shrine, there will be 1 tile left...


Let's do just that. Head there (don't touch the box) and summon boat.


Like I said, just enough for 1 more step...


Once in the boat, put on the Necklace for added movement.



Those Lighthouses that we flagged back in the first week will come in very handy.




137

We will head to a tiny island which contains a Scholar... it is guarded by a Gate, don't open it diagonally.


They ask for the death of the Titans that were guarding 'Forgetfulness'.


Now, before coming ashore, consider that there are 2 ways out of here: boat and water boots! Since boarding a boat removes all movement, leave some room to get out with your boots and go 1 tile further north.


Movement planning much? If movement was insufficient, I would have picked up fewer things along the way with both heroes to make sure I don't waste an additional day here.


A Friend's day is, unfortunately, not as pretty.


I really wish I could do more with him today but that School of Magic is just a few inches too far Get in the boat and waste a good 11 tiles of movement.



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Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted February 14, 2016 07:46 PM

Great read, as always!

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 18, 2016 08:04 AM

It's been a busy few days, but here's some more reading.

141

This proved to be the most frustrating battle to date in this Let's Play, because of how I planned things to save a bit of time.

The problem is, there are 3 alignments in my army and no way to get +1 Morale (on 137, Vertigo had visited an Oasis so it was not an issue).


These Idol of Fortune are unfortunately coded by day. Even days: morale, odd days: luck, day 7: luck and morale.


Because movement is ever so slightly short, I can't visit both the Mage Tower and the Library of Enlightenment. So I made a choice and picked the Library... extra stats are more helpful right away.


For the purpose of screenshots and because I didn't want to attempt this fight for 2 hours like I did for the actual playthrough, I dismissed the Black Dragon. Naturally, I didn't do this as you can see in the video.


First, Forgetfulness.


Because the Mages are a bit spread out, you have to be careful where you kite them. Even though the blue line should be 'safe' for kiting, the Mages will block each other and any stack crossing this line will start heading toward the shooters. Later on when there are fewer stacks this won't be an issue.


Slow and kite. You can see that the forward-most Mage will want to attack the shooter blockers. It can be pulled back slightly with the Gargoyle by placing it 7 tiles away so that it moves back a bit.



In any case, I've been focusing fire on this guy so he's gone.


Once the first stack is gone, kiting is a bit easier.



After a while, you'll have to shift positions a bit to get the enemy within the 10-hex shooting range. With fewer enemy stacks left, it is safe to kite with only 1 target.



Repeat for a while, don't forget to check for 'Forgetfulness' and 'slow'.



Visit the scholar for Town Portal Also visit the locations previously shown.


Put back the water boots. We're heading on a small walk.


So... if you've managed to keep your black dragon alive, it's used to open this border guard towards 'Thanatos'.


Lazy Friend can move 30 tiles. Nothing much can be accomplished...





142

Because the AI gets their new week after human, Pink visits his objects before our next turn.


Friend completes his lazy strut, land vertically here for later reasons.



Back to Vertigo... 2 easy fights before you face Pink.






Vertigo gets more Attack


This next fight seems to be quite RNG-dependent. Split some troops as shown or 1/1/1/1 MGenies if you don't care to lose some of them.


Normal order of movement is shown... if you're unlucky as I was initially, Thanatos will cast 'prayer' and then you'll need to rely on spell RNG to win the fight - see the video.


For some reason, when I took screenshots, Thanatos would no longer start off with 'Prayer' but instead use a really useless spell.


In this situation, you can cast slow and the victory is rather easy without relying on much RNG.



Finish off the flies with a spell at the start of the next round.


Now Thanatos will for certain cast Prayer... Cure would have been a better spell


Use the lone Gargoyle to block the Basilisks and kill the Hydras+Wyverns.



Thanatos casts Frost Ring and we lose some Gargoyles - fodder.


Next round it's all over.


In the video, I had to rely on Frenzy+Bless RNG because Thanatos always opened with Prayer. And also, hope that he doesn't cast Cure later. It's a short fight but it means 9 reloads out of 10 attempts right away ... I much prefer this fight with no RNG!


Visit the Stables and capture the town.



Ignore everything else, we're on a tight schedule. Go back to the shore and summon a boat.





143

Vertigo has a bit of time to grab 1 item, I went for this one. Then go land next to AFriend.


The latter takes troops from Vertigo and artifacts then he can visit a few locations.



Combat is super simple, cast slow.



The Pandora's Box is quite useful! The SP will help us save some walking for AFriend. Protection from Earth has its use soon... and Ghost Dragon... later.


One more step...




~~~

Preview of next day's first fight... should be easy, right?

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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted February 21, 2016 09:09 AM

Moar!

I don't see how you're going to kill these Dragons. How many of them could Titans take every round? 20, 30? Not enough time.
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Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted February 21, 2016 11:26 AM

He has tactics and I see an excellent spot on the battlefield. Dragons move, titans move to spot, elemental close the angle. Now I don't know if he has the bow of sharpshooter so he can take advantage from?  

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 21, 2016 09:41 PM
Edited by RoseKavalier at 22:06, 21 Feb 2016.

Warmonger said:
Moar!

I don't see how you're going to kill these Dragons. How many of them could Titans take every round? 20, 30? Not enough time.


Time has been an issue lately, my progress has slowed to a crawl (I'm still a few days ahead of updates) and so updates are slow as well.

Titans could kill maybe 7, Enchanters 8.

Salamandre said:
He has tactics and I see an excellent spot on the battlefield. Dragons move, titans move to spot, elemental close the angle. Now I don't know if he has the bow of sharpshooter so he can take advantage from?  


That's pretty much it - terrain awareness - except no bow of sharpshooter at this point in time.

~~~

144

Start with Vertigo, buy 8 Mages, visit the Windmill and finish SE of the magic shrine. Friend goes to the shrine and then trades diagonally with Vertigo (it's snow terrain, he has non-native creature and lacks Pathfinding).



For this next fight, we'll need 6 Gargoyles (you can do with 5 and a bit of RNG), Enchanters, Titans and the Hourglass-of-no-luck-for-you.


Arrange troops as shown, with Enchanters in the first slot as usual.


Go!


During Tactics phase, take advantage of the wonderful terrain - only 1-hex tiles available near our shooters. Pay particular attention to how the 2 gargoyles are placed on I1 and J2; you will lose if you use I2 and J2. Black Dragons are greedy and will go after the 3 Gargoyles, otherwise it can only attack 2. Our Titans and Enchanters are blocked off from immediate threat.


If you go with 5 Gargoyles instead of 6, you'll have to roll a dice to see what BD kills. Now Titans wait.


When Enchanters act, they first cast a spell. If it's 'Haste' or 'Bless', use dispel. Haste changes moving order and we'll lose. Bless makes our shooters too strong.



By careful calculation, you can predict where the enemy will go.


I want to sandwich the Enchanters in-between the 2 stacks of Titans which will themselves be sandwiched by Elementals... since there are 3 open spots to attack the Titans from, it makes sense to reduce those 3 stacks as much as possible. We'll hit #3, #4 and #5. If Titans kill one stack, it's ok we will have one more chance. Two dead stacks means reload however.


Check 2 screenshots above for move order. Now Black Dragons will use firebreath to take out both gargoyles. If you place a Gargoyle on I2, the BD will move 1 fewer tile and extend the path towards left Titans = death.


3 and 4 attack the left Titan, 5 the right. Move left Titan 1 tile and suicide remaining Gargoyle.


Fully safe now, hit defend and cast cure once in a while - giving Enchanters plenty of time to bring down BD.






When the Dragons are almost dead, you can start killing the remaining Elementals.




I like this Kill : Death ratio. We're one step closer to Bow of the Sharpshooter!




Visit the Seer Hut (asks for death of Thanatos, the Fortress hero killed by Vertigo). Resurrection lets us move to the next fights!



Trade with Vertigo...



Because the hero hiding in the nearby Tower is actually 'Solmyr', we need some protection. Let Vertigo handle this part.


With Resurrection, it's an easy fight.


Kill off the Magogs (reload if Titans fail) and cast slow.


Now all you need to do is resurrect the MGenie and stall the Dogs and Efreet. It works a bit better if you send the Gargoyle towards the middle instead of the corner (Cerberi are lured further away).


Kill ArchDevils and keep resurrecting MGenie. The enemy will keep going for the juiciest target which we can easily resurrect.



Finally we can kill off one Efreet. Let the other come in range before firing with Enchanters.



Titans and Enchanters kill the Efreets in the next round and stall the Dogs with 1 Gargoyle.


Fairly easy. Gargoyles are expendable as I've said previously.




Vertigo is not quite fast enough to trade with A Friend, so don't visit the Garden of Knowledge. A Friend will come to him, trade then can visit the Rally Flag on his way to the Tower.


You can take all remaining Gargoyles (video doesn't but it's something I re-worked).
Important trades: Boots of Levitation, Necklace of Dragonteeth (and possibly Dragonbone Greaves) to Vertigo


Make several stacks of 1 Gargoyle and attack Solmyr. Cast 'Slow' so that Gargoyles can prevent enemy Titans from shooting.


Titans kill Archmages...


Here you need a bit of RNG on your side. Solmyr may cast some spells, 'Stone Skin', 'Anti-Magic'... but he's not allowed to cast 'Cure'. If he casts cure, reload

In this attempt, he cast Stone Skin. I've placed the 3 Gargoyles stack in front of the door to lure the MGenies out (sometimes they prefer to cast spells). Also, Angels come forward but don't exit.

See 122 again for castle-walls 'holes'. From this position, Enchanters can kill Angels with full damage.


Next round, keep blocking Titans with 1 Gargoyle at a time. Titans kill MGenies and Enchanters will eventually hit enemy Titans, wait at first.


Now here is something I found during this battle. At first I thought it was an ERA/WoG bug but I've tested it under Vanilla SoD and it works the same.

Enchanters can do full damage to A15 while they are at A6 or A7. It doesn't work with Titans (and shouldn't). It's certainly useful in this situation


Let Solmyr cast another spell then use 'Dispel' with the waiting Enchanters. This also increases damage to kill 7 Titans instead of the 5 possible previously.


Waiting Gargoyle goes to block enemy Titans again. Titans can kill enemy Gargoyles who moved forward.


One more hit on Titans and they'll be gone (next round).


Next round, slow and kill enemy Titans.


Solmyr also has the 'Death Ripple' spell which can kill 1 Titan per turn. You can try to delay with 'Protection from Earth' as in video, or simply keep spamming 'Dispel'.


Don't scare Solmyr, use wait before putting him in kill-range.




Now one turn of shooting will kill him off so resurrect Enchanters.




All Gargoyles are gone (in video, a few are left on Vertigo but they will be dismissed). Enter the Tower, Syburgh, buy an Ammo Cart. But more importantly, leave the Titans behind.


Now that there's a decent army available, we can start splitting off on our 2 heroes. A Friend will head back to our Main area and hire some troops there.



There are a few steps left, take them and end the day. Make sure you have full movement on Vertigo and A Friend.


###

There seems to be about 10 seconds of video missing between #2 and #3. It's basically visiting the seer for Resurrection and trading with Vertigo.






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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 26, 2016 05:57 PM
Edited by RoseKavalier at 18:15, 26 Feb 2016.

Hmm... some good and some bad news.

Good news: I've progressed to 216 with videos!

Bad news: I've lost my current progress. And by 'lost', I mean I'm replaying everything from 144 in order to add an optimization which I have no idea why I didn't do earlier.

Partially good news: some of the videos I had made can still be used although things start being quite different at 211 so I have to make new ones from that point on.

I'm currently altering the order in which I do things in week 5 to, hopefully, rely less on RNG in some uncomfortable battles coming up later (weeks 6, 7 mainly). Bear with me...

Unless you, the readers, think videos are not worth my time in which case I might be able to progress a bit faster

144 reviewed
You may recall I traded diagonally with Friend on the snow... well no longer. That alone saved 111 movement.
Additionally, Vertigo did not visit the Windmill (Crystals... not so useful), visited the Rally Flag and used the road for a few more tiles. This allowed him to come back closer to the Rally Flag after acquiring the Pendant of Negativity.


The end result is that Vertigo finishes where he was (his last step is used to trade with A Friend, instead of A Friend trading with Vertigo) but A Friend can go a bit further.


I noticed that the screenshots were 1 tile further from the video which had me puzzled... so I took another look and now we gain movement.

###

145
The biggest difference here between the revised approach is I don't pick up a scholar in the way... that and I end up further.

Alrighty then! Vertigo should have maximum movement now that he doesn't have Gargoyles slowing him down. Visit the Rally Flag... it's kind of important.


Now instead of walking, Town Portal in the nearby Tower... it saves movement.


Recall that A Friend left the Titans here. Swap the Ghost Dragon for them...


Vertigo will now visit the Well before going on a water stride. Put your rain boots after the Well.



The gap between the boats lets you just barely reach the shore of Easter Island! We still lack 'Scuttle Boat' at this point. Without the Rally Flag, Vertigo can't cross the waterway.


Back to A Friend... this next screenshot was taken before I revised 144. It's what tipped me off on the extra tile. Anyhow, kill these Beholders and step in the portal.


'Forgetfulness' then 'Slow'... easy.




This portal leads us to just a few tiles East of the Tower we just captured. Here, A Friend can visit Stables, kill Nagas for 160 SP and ignore a Scholar with Frenzy. It's an easy fight again.





In the narrative of the story, this doesn't appear to be meant to be seen now. Who knows...


Ignore the scholar as I said and see how many more tiles that are done compared to the video. Moreover, some of it is penalty terrain.


(old version)


146 (old)
The differences here are movement related. I finally noticed a better way to approach the Tower and the extra available movement is used to collect some goods.

The main reason for A Friend's escapade is to collect these Friendly ArchDevils... there's just a snag in the road.


170 Titans! It's not as bad as it looks, they are in a single stack Use the Gargoyles so that they can't shoot while you reduce their numbers. The 2 Pegasi are too weak to kill them given our stats so they are not an issue (beside costing more SP - hence the reason to kill the Nagas on 145).



Once all 4 single gargoyles are dead, send in the MGenies which we can resurrect, further blocking the enemy from shooting.



Easy!


Collect your prize....s! Now we're in business!


~Small break for A Friend~

This is Vertigo's immediate itinerary. In the video you will see I don't collect nearly as much stuff... the reason is simple: A Friend had less movement and also, I eventually noticed that you can step on the 'Mystical Garden' to access the Garrison instead of going the long way through the 'Fountain of Fortune' (282 movement vs. 400 movement).



Prepare to take the Garrison, it's heavily guarded - why we left the Titans for Vertigo.


Take off Spirit of Oppression, 2 enemy types mean no morale for them.


Open up with 'Slow' as usual...


Cast beneficial spells on Titans, 'Air Shield' being the best available here. Titans start killing the Behemoths, they are the real threat here. If they close in on your Titans, you're dead.


The first hit is from further than 10 hex, so 4 Behemoths die. The second hit is within 10 hex and 12 die (more beneficial spells) so there are 4 left. Instead of wasting an arrow on them, take advantage of the Magic Clouds terrain.



Another Lightning will kill them next turn.


Change targets... here luck and morale struck thus eliminating another Behemoth.


Finally, 'Air Shield' is triggered. The last Bears are dead in 2 arrows and MGenies prevent them from reaching our Titans. Sacrifice the MGenies to save some SP, they are out of spellcasts anyway.



It will take 4 Arrows to kill each enemy stack. But if you walk forward on your 'Wait period', you can do it in 2 Arrows. The result is that you get attacked less overall.


Resurrect and repeat for all enemy stacks... when the last Titans are alive, reduce them to 1 with Spells.



Defend with Titans and resurrect the Giant as well as the large MGenies group we had on the bottom.


Not very difficult but slightly more challenging



The Quest Guard asks for the death of Titans blocking 'Forgetfulness' (week 3). Capture the Tower by protecting the MGenies.



This town lacks Titans and a Castle (disabled) but it serves as a good rally point for the moment.


~End of A Friend's break~

Collect Arch Magi from Dragons Eye and then go to the newest Tower, Minas Ithil.



A Friend trades with Vertigo. Upgrade new Enchanters and give him ArchDevils. Important to give 'Boots of Levitation' to A Friend as well as 'Orb of Driving Rain'. As a matter of fact, the next fight is with A Friend so all offensive artifacts should go to him.


Once trading is done, dump the Giant in the city. We will collect him later on - he's just slow at the moment.


Now Vertigo finishes the day a few steps south while A Friend visits a few locations and opens up a Quest Guard to head East.



The Quest Guard requests this Artifact that was hidden behind Rogue Caverns... week 3.


One last step to be taken. We're not short on movement, I don't want to go in the water, if anything there's 79 too much Rather, we're heading east with Water Boots where you see that Purple Tent. There's a Stronghold just visible on the edge of the screen which will be our next big fight.


(old version)

(old version)

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Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted February 26, 2016 08:16 PM

Do it as you like with videos, as the map is so hard, I suppose people from maps4heroes could be sent here, so better be accurate. Great walkthrough so far.

Can you please tell me your HD mod code (your options should be displayed as a code somewhere I think). I like how you can display range in battle and town portal new outfit, didn't know it can work with Era.

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 26, 2016 10:20 PM

Salamandre said:
Can you please tell me your HD mod code (your options should be displayed as a code somewhere I think). I like how you can display range in battle and town portal new outfit, didn't know it can work with Era.


Movement
Quoting: Combat Screen
Quote:
- During combat, if you hover cursor over a unit pressing [Shift] or [Ctrl], it will show creature’s speed visually on the combat field
[Shift] – speed with regard to other creatures on the field
[Ctrl] – speed regardless other creatures on the field
- You can now pick creatures clicking on them with mouse in Tactics mode.


You can also have them on by default by first holding [Alt] then pressing [Ctrl] (not the other way around). Sometimes they will stop showing but just press the combination again. Doesn't work with [Shift] but that's less useful anyway.

Code
All details are on the HDmod webpage, It's in Russian but Translate does a relatively understandable job of it. Tweaks

My own for ERA; I've put in bold the relevant ones, but some are ok by default (can be # or removing // comment).
Quote:
<Fix.AutofixMap> = 0
<Fix.Cosmetic> = 1
<Fix.Crit.ArtMerchantDlg.Backpack> = 1
<Fix.Crit.DoubleDeleteNetMsg> = 1
<Fix.Crit.FirstStart> = 0
<Fix.Crit.MapsOver5000> = 1
<Fix.Crit.MpNotMeTownQV> = 1
<Fix.Crit.RandHeroRandCreatures> = 1
<Fix.Crit.ReplayTurn.AI7DaysExpireLose> = 1
<Fix.Crit.RMG.AnyUnknownErrors> = 1
<Fix.Crit.ScenarioMgr.MapTime> = 1
<Fix.Crit.Tavern.Rumors> = 1
<Fix.Crit.TextFilesBugs> = 1
<Fix.DefFrame.Draw.ExceptionHandlerOn> = 1
//<Fix.DiskFreeSpaceCheckOff> = 0
<Fix.Font.HighlightedText> = 1
<Fix.Font.NegativeShift> = 0
//<Fix.KingdomOverview.MultiDwelling> = 0
<Fix.LodNotFoundExeptionOff> = 0
<Fix.RMG.StartingHeroInPrison> = 1
<Graphics.Resolution> = 1280x800
<Graphics.Mode> = 2
<Graphics.ComplexFilter> = 2
<Graphics.Threads> = 8
<Graphics.SimpleFilter> = 2
<Graphics.SystemCursors> = 1
//<HD+> = 0
<HD+.Settings>
<Misc.TournamentSaver> = 0
<Misc.Misc> = 1
<Misc.RenameRandMap> = 0
<Packs>
<Sound.Async> = 1
<Sound.Stereo44Music> = 1
<Sound.NewerLibraries> = 1
<Sys.MultiInstance> = 1
<Sys.NoCD> = 0
//<Sys.CPU.ReduceUsage> = 0
//<Sys.WriteToIniInsteadRegistry> = 0
<UI.AdvMgr.SkipMapMsgs> = 1
<UI.ClipCursor> = 1
<UI.CombatMgr.CursorShadowAlwaysOn> = 1
<UI.DarkTransitions> = 1
<UI.Ext.AdvMgr> = 1 , 1 , 1
<UI.Ext.ArtMerchantDlg> = 1 , 1
<UI.Ext.CombatMgr> = 1 , 1
<UI.Ext.CombatOptionsDlg> = 1
<UI.Ext.HeroDlg> = 1
<UI.Ext.LvlUpDlg> = 1
<UI.Ext.ScenarioMgr> = 1
<UI.Ext.ScenarioMgr.Settings> = 4, 72, 2, 2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1
<UI.Ext.ScenarioMgr.Folders> = 1
<UI.Ext.SpellBook> = 1
<UI.Ext.SpellScroll> = 1
<UI.Ext.SwapMgr> {0,1,2} = 1
<UI.Ext.TextEditBox> = 1 , 1
<UI.Ext.TownMgr> = 1 , 1
<UI.Ext.TownMgr.AvailableInsteadGrowth> = 1
<UI.Ext.TownPortalDlg> = 1
<UI.HiRezCore> = 1
<UI.HiRezCore.DlgExtraFlags> = 1
<UI.MainMenu.ShowSysMenu> = 1
<UI.MapGrid> = 1
<UI.MsgBox.DblClickSelect> = 1
<UI.QuickArmyManagementMode> {0, 1} = 0
<UI.RecruitDlg.AutoSet> = 1
<UI.RecruitDlg.AutoSet.Max> = 1
<UI.ReplayOwnTurn> = 1
<UI.ShowTimer> = 1
<UI.Suits> = 1
<UI.Tavern.InviteHero> = 1
<Update.CheckAtStart> = 0

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RoseKavalier
RoseKavalier


Admirable
Supreme Hero
posted February 27, 2016 05:15 AM

It's Friday evening and I don't have to get up early tomorrow! Let's wrap up the first month in the Marods of Damelon.

147

A Friend heads to the Stronghold. There's enough movement to get one item here (Quest Guard or Spyglass) but I kinda forgot... we'll get them later.


Easy fights will be more and more summarized now... this one doesn't even need to cast slow.



This Fountain of Youth is actually an Oasis! An extra 400 movement points comparatively. We'll come back here often.


Pre-fight arrangement. Put on the Shackles, for some reason AI is sometimes able to run from Castle garrisons.


This fight is fairly long, but it's not difficult. There are 3 phases and 1 bug to avoid. First, block the door with the MGenies.


###Game Bug###

If the AI casts 'Resurrection' on a dead stack and if that stack is able to move (sometimes casting 'Resurrection' doesn't let you move), the AI will freeze and there's nothing you can do.

To circumvent this, only kill enemy stacks AFTER the opposing hero has already cast a spell. If you don't, you'll need to load (HDmod) or close the entire game (non-HDmod).

###Phase one: Sacrifice###

You can try to cast spells with the MGenies on the Enchanters, 'Haste', 'Prayer' or 'Frenzy' will make the fight a bit faster.

In this first phase, we attack the Wolf Raiders. The enemy likes them a lot and will use 'Sacrifice' and 'Resurrection' to bring them back to life.


The enemy's spell of choice will typically be 'Air Shield' which makes the fight even longer. Greedy as it is, AI will target the large MGenies stack and leave your shooters alone.


Because we have 'Ballistics', we get to act before any AI units. Use this time to resurrect the MGenies every turn.


Shooters wait... if you were lucky and MGenies were generous, the Wolves will already be dead and will not have 'Air Shield' anymore.


One sacrifice later... shoot the Wolves again.


He will sacrifice both the Orcs and the Goblins. Keep shooting the Wolves.


Once he runs out of weaker stacks to sacrifice, enemy will cast other spells which lets you kill the wolves. This ends Phase One.


###Phase Two: Resurrection###

Every turn AI will now cast 'Resurrection' on his dead Wolves. Since they died the previous round due to 'Wait', there is no risk to encounter the freeze-bug.

Have Enchanters kill the wolves after waiting and the Titans attack the Tbirds. Do this for a while, raising your MGenies every turn.



Eventually the Tbirds numbers will fall in the 100 region, at which point the Wolves are considered more valuable by the AI. Sacrifice!


This ends Phase Two, we no longer need to cast 'Resurrection' every turn.

###Phase Three: Exhaustion and Recovery###

Now that the enemy can do absolutely nothing to hurt us (too busy raising his creatures), we can efficiently run down its remaining Spell Points while we save ours for raising our dead troops (MGenies and Enchanters).

Wait as before and shoot Wolves and Cyclops. Quite a bit of SP left on our side despite casting 'Resurrection' so many times.



When opponent's SP fall below 15, start casting 'Dispel' so that he doesn't send 'Ice Bolts' on our way. Although there's plenty of SP left in this attempt, sometimes the AI will be more picky and not sacrifice TBirds for a while...


Remember to stop the Cyclops...


Enemy will cast 'Air Shield' and maybe 'Stone Skin' before running out of SP. Use 'Dispel' now that he is exhausted.



Before landing the final blow, recover your own troops. This would be a difficult fight without the Sharpshooter's Bow.



Back to the depth of the oceans with you! Visit the Oasis and go refill your spell points. Because of the Oasis, we almost have as much movement as at the start of the day!



Easy fight...



Now it is time to meet up with Vertigo near Minas Ithil.



Swap artifacts but give the War Machines to A Friend. 'Boots of Levitation' should be equipped.


After a small water ride, Vertigo can free a prisoner... there are just some Azures in the way.


Before we go to the fight, I'll just take a moment to mention the likely inspiration behind it... 'Lord of the Rings' by Season. A riddle-filled map, highly recommended! Anyway, one of your main attacking force consists in 'Harpy Hags' which can safely attack -anything- so long as they are hidden somewhere... during the 'Tactics phase' !


Back to ~Metataxer's Revenge~... there are some Harpy Hags that are available to us near Dragons Eye. However that means a significantly later rescue date (need to flag the Purple Keymaster's Tent and stop by the Swan Pond) and movement is a snowball mechanics in this game. Sooo, the earlier we get more movement, the better.


The Azures, located at (35,99,0), on Magic Clouds feature this lovely terrain. There are a lot of such terrains if you care to find them


Since the Cape of Velocity provides +2 movement, ArchDevils will act first, so they can move to the furthest safe spot. MGenies can hide during the Tactics phase.



Because a tie in movement means the first waiting creature will act first during the 'wait phase', cast 'Haste' to gain initiative.


Now we can do a half-harpy hag... strike and return over two turns.


We might get hit by 'Fear'... it's not so bad if you attack the dragons from below or above as they will avoid using firebreath on each other.


You can also cast spells with the MGenies and 'Bloodlust' from your spellbook... cast 'Resurrection' as needed and kill the last dragon.



Elleshar is free!


Since Vertigo is pretty spent on movement and spell points, visit these objects.



LiLaLauBear (I'll just say Elleshar) opens up the Pandora's Box and picks up some goodies before trading with Vertigo.






When trading, Elleshar learns a lot of spells, most importantly Town Portal!



Head to Minas Ithil again and head toward the two 10,000 gold piles.



Vertigo also heads to Minas Ithil (can be any of the three Towers really).



Now A Friend will be the first to perform the 'Oasis trick'... I called it the 'Deadwood' trick in my TEW2 thread... R'yleh trick just doesn't sound good however.


While you're here get +1 Attack.


The Oasis trick, in a nutshell: 177 movement and 1 morale for 12 spell points.


Get another +1 Attack in Slaughter.



Leave the Enchanters in town and take 5 Orcs. I seem to have forgotten to crop this screenshot.


Collect these 20 Ores, visit the Rally Flag and stop your trek in front of Rust Dragons which we side-stepped back in week 2.



(new version)

(old version)

(new version)

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