So lets put it other way: this is the last weekly event I'm adding. It starts day 1 of month 5. There are several other smaller weekly events before this one, almost doubling these numbers.
You already know this to be suicidal? Event
Salamandre said:@Rosekavalier, I already stored BIG armies in variables only, then put armies on hero when attack him. I use that for Tew3 because of freeze problem. But for that to work your map need to be Era and use erm, I don't know a way to do that in SoD.
I see this as optimal way to control AI growth, instead of giving him town events which are set in stone. So you use a var then multiply its growth with the month of the game.
Let's say you want hero x to have black dragons in slot 1 but if you put too many, player which goes very fast will find battle too hard, player which fights there month 18 will find it too easy. So you set dragons to 500 (or whatever) for a start then up to month 3 multiply by month * 2, between month 3 and 6 multiply with 4 and so on, to follow player expansion. And this is kept in vars, so on map the guy will have nothing in army slots and no dnager to freeze even if months gives him 1 million dragons. ofc for that he must be set to stand up, if you let him roam he will die.
Ohh, didn't realize the script already existed. It would be for my 3rd map which is on hiatus atm - I want some basic scripts for it. I still need to finish the fun map and then the hard map before undertaking this.
We start with some hit'n'run tactics with foolish ScytheScroge. Vertigo wears +3 speed and brings some Dragonflies with an Archangel.
This grants initiative in the battle, provided that the Archangel isn't hit by Fear.
Cast 'Prayer' so that Dragonflies are second fastest.
By moving Archangel next to Titan, Azure Dragons move to free their shooter but also to attack juiciest target. It's a big mistake!
Next round, resurrect your AA...
Make out like a bandit.
Mr. Fat can recruit Vertigo again.
From which point Vertigo goes back to Kalryhwater and restocks on Dragonflies.
Repeat the same tactic, killing off all Titans.
With Titans now dead, the hit'n'run tactic changes a litte since we don't need to move the Azure Dragons. Cast 'Prayer' and let 1 Dragon Fly attract the firebreath onto the Faeries.
Hehehehe.
Repeat as necessary until none are left.
Vertigo now goes to grab some Wraiths for the next phase of the hit'n'run.
For this next phase I will use LLLB. First, he needs to grab some required items near where we left him off last day.
Because I'm most likely not coming back here with LLLB, I visit the Trees of Knowledge.
There's also a Pandora's Box hidden behind the second tree.
This'll be very good for Sepello
Visit the Oasis then meet with Vertigo in Kalryhwater.
The second part of hit'n'run will be used for exhaustion. Undead creatures are immune to 'Fear' so we can hide a lone Wraith behind forcefields.
Because Wraith has no chance of being faster than Azure Dragons, we can simply place 2 forcefield in front of each other, blocking off 2-hex units.
If the AI summons Air Elementals instead, we can simply place Forcefields with only 1 free hex and move in between each of them (see in video).
Because I only have very weak creature alive, the enemy doesn't bother using offensive spells like Implosion or even Lightning Bolt
Magic Mirror is certainly a better spell, lol.
No more spell points - sitting duck.
Raise your Phoenix and get out.
Battlefield report is not quite representative of what just happened
Friend, Sepello and LLLB refresh SP in Uruk.
After this, bring in Sepello to Kalryhwater and learn Forcefield from Vertigo.
Attack ScytheScroge - this time with the intention of killing. Wear at least +3 Speed and bring Ghost Dragons, Enchanters, Archdevils and Archmagi. Because there are not enough shots to kill everything with Enchanters, Archdevils need to brought along.
Added benefit is they are preferred target of enemy so even if hit by fear, Enchanters are left at full strength. At 17 speed tie, our Ghost Dragons get to move before Rust Dragons because previous creature was opponent's Azures. Take this time to cast 'Forcefield'.
Round two, cast 'Prayer'. Again, Undead are immune to 'Fear' so if they can be made faster than Azure Dragons, we will be 100% safe.
Typical Forcefield + Frenzy tactic.
Kill all Azures and Rust Dragons... takes around 25 shots.
For Crystal Dragons, use 'Quicksand' as it costs less SP than Forcefield every two turns.
We will run out of shots soon enough but enemy is toothless.
Recover everything and use Archdevils to finish the fight.
This normally very powerful enemy went down very easily with a three-phase battle plan
At level 47, Armor specialty finally grants over 50% damage reduction. If Defense is high enough, enemy will only deal 30% of damage - meaning 15% damage dealt by wandering monsters. If you can cast 'Shield', then 10.5% This will let Sepello win some fights no other hero can manage.
No more fighting today, Friend can visit a seer hut where he is the objective.
I carefully left a Nomad here...
A lot of movement expended but worth it.
Brewster and Friend head to Ground Zero as they prepare to head to the next objective.
Friend is left with Dragonfly and can step on the already visited Swan Pond. I removed some decoration in mapeditor to clarify why I do this...
Once on the road, swap the dragonfly for some MGenies. Terrain will be a mix of Desert and Snow once the road ends...
Step on the Pillar of Fire and we get access to the hidden path behind.
There are 2 quest guards in the water. One asks for that same Elf that we killed a few days back. The other quest guard in the water can't be opened for a long time so ignore it.
There is an event on the small piece of land which prevents landing with a boat so use 'Waterwalk'.
The Quest guard asks for one of our 2 Boots of Levitation (one obtained from Cursed Ground island, second from Bunsenburn last day).
Brewster visits this disguised Swan Pond and gets stuck for the day while Friend runs out of movement on the other side.
Use the remaining movement of Sepello to explore the water near Crissy Motel.
Last thing for the day, buy some seemingly useless creatures and sell all your wood and ore as well.
During the night, we get hit by a series of events stealing all our gold.
On the plus side, Pay Castle is now built up.
The Double Bert Chronicles
The AI really loves visiting Seer Huts... wastes most of his movement not going anywhere.
246
Two days in one update?! Well, there's no fighting today, it's a simple day.
We begin the day completely broke...
Let's fix this. Pick up the Energy Elementals and head to Acre 5.
A conveniently well-placed Freelancer's Guild.
We lose some gold in the process (70% payback) but it's much better than nothing.
Sepello picks up this artifact which I previously ignored due to lack of movement.
It's cheaper movement-wise to leave here by retreating rather than landing somewhere.
Similarly, Vertigo can pick up some neglected artifacts.
Same as with Sepello, retreat out.
Give the artifacts to Vertigo after re-hiring both heroes.
Sepello visits the Oasis and then head to this two-way portal network.
Press spacebar a bit until you find yourself in the southern part of the map where a Red Border guard can be opened... but nothing else for now.
On the objective side of the map, Brewster moves back a bit to give Friend the Nomad because of Desert terrain. Afterwards, move back 1 tile behind the Pillar of Fire [not shown] as we will pick up a few more things before heading on our way.
LLLB picks up some army that we left around...
Finally go to Ground Zero near Friend and Brewster and pick up the 150 AAs obtained by Friend.
LLLB comes by to give the new artifacts and the 1 free Enchanter we got by surrender/recruit Vertigo.
LLLB will now trade with Brewster who's waiting nearby.
Army and artifacts are split as shown. Basically, most everything remains on LLLB but Armor of the Damned and some minor other things go to Brewster - most notably 'Recanter's Cloak'.
Visit more stats boosters and then LLLB will finish 2 steps from our first town, near BertBert.
Finally, Friend and Brewster can make some progress. Friend walks over the Pond without trouble having already visited one previously.
The Lucid Pools hide water underneath. Can't use 'Summon Boat' so only Waterwalk will work.
At this point Friend takes a break to allow Brewster to catch up.
I swap MGenies for Dragonfly again as the upcoming terrain is Swamp.
Friend pushes on and will be stuck at a place where magic can't be cast.
Leave slow nomad in the garrison for maximum speed.
Because he gets stuck here, Friend is carrying my only pair of 'Boots of Levitation'. This means that Brewster can't follow right now or she will forever be stuck here. Instead, backtrack here, 1 south of unvisited Oasis. There's also a tile of land 4S of the Oasis but by visiting the Oasis next turn I will gain 300 movement comparatively.
Leave slow creatures in garrison for Brewster as well.
Vertigo's remaining movement is used to bring all Vampires together... ends up in CPU where there is a Mage Guild so that SP can be restored.
The 2 Berts Chronicles - Final Episode
Double Bert walks into a trap... he captures this useless town and being out of movement, sits in town
@Rose Kavalier, I play with HD mod on now (800x600 to keep old mouse reflexes) and I see display spells, if used with Ctrl + right click, conflicts with HD display movement. So I put it to Alt + right click. But I need other advices before I release update, is Alt more convenient than ctrl?
To apply the changes, open its erm file, then search for this line:
!!SN:L^user32.dll^/?y1 Ay1/^GetKeyState^/?y2 Ey2/1/17; --> change 17 to 18 for Alt
@Salamandre
Ah I see what you mean, need to reset the show battle movement every time. I don't see any issues with using Alt+RClick instead, I had to get used to Ctrl+LClick in the first place.
#####
Progress in the game is going well - with one stupid issue. However I just noticed that I broke one of my own rules by using movement from a defeated hero from the tavern (not retreat/surrender). It's really nothing major (doesn't speed up main quest) but I'm debating whether I should fix it which involves replaying from 245 (or even earlier) because I messed up creatures and artifacts splits
More detailed explanation...
The difference is the day where I will obtain my first Azure Dragon which is sped up 1 day with the infraction. It involves Brewster going on top of the map for a long water walk.
While the Azure is needed to move along the main quest path, I can simply use chaining to bring it to the front as the location of the quest guard requiring the Azure is far enough that the earlier Azure Dragon doesn't actually speed anything up. It just removes need for chaining.
I'm using the extra movement from Brewster to pick up some artifacts/creatures from Friend which can be set aside at 245 which isn't such a problem really. But the real transgression is visiting a seer hut with Brewster and picking up a new artifact which should only be possible a turn later without the extra movement - hence the 1 day later Azure Dragon.
For now I'm inclined to say it has no impact on the game progression for the reasons shown here so I think that I will stick with mistake with a big (*) on the side. If somebody has objections, I can always fix it. Let me know - silence will be taken as it being fine the way it is
So will you rerecord 245 and 246? I'm shocked viewing some nice tactics like double wraith forcefield to drain AI Mana, Ghost Dragons Fear Immunity and using Frenzy Spell to max out damage.
zmudziak22 said:So will you rerecord 245 and 246? I'm shocked viewing some nice tactics like double wraith forcefield to drain AI Mana, Ghost Dragons Fear Immunity and using Frenzy Spell to max out damage.
Probably not record anew because the changes to fix mistakes would be relatively minor:
1- leave 1 Archdevil with LLLB
2- leave Power of the Dragonfather artifacts with LLLB
3- don't pick up the 150 Archangels seer hut with Friend right away
The only fight that would be slightly different is Double Bert because I'd have only 90 AAs instead of 240.
RoseKavalier said:silence will be taken as it being fine the way it is
Ok, I'm fine with this and glad to see you also have this kind of dilemas...
Yea, it eats at my mind - couldn't believe I did that. So much that I've actually decided to replay from 245.
The only differences will be position of 'A Friend' and missing the 150 AAs which I'll get at 311 instead of 247. In fact, the movement of Friend will be greatly improved this way, saves around 2000 movement. Not that it helps much, there is bound to be some downtime for some heroes while I finish clearing the top portion of the map.
In order to speed up completion of the map I will need to test a bit the priority of defeating wandering prison red heroes vs. ignoring them while I push the main quest. They need only be killed to enable the last fight. My idea at the moment is to let them roam a bit while I make my way toward the Orb of Vulnerability, probably acquiring it somewhere around early 33x or even late 32x. From there I can clean them up faster with blind+forcefield tactics, even attacking in the open. Maybe I can complete the map within 3 months, much better than the almost 7 months of my first attempt
I can understand you are replaying from 245 - when aiming for a really good time, one does not want to leave any holes open Even though most of us wouldn't care in the least
I am still heavily excited to see a possible record attempt! Have my support, yet again
Meh. Wasn't too complicated to fix and it actually sped up a fight
245 revised
I already mentioned what I'd do different but here's a reminder.
First, Friend didn't pick up these 150 free Archangels as they are not necessary right away.
This meant he could pick up the slow creatures from Brewster and leave them in a garrison on his way to the south.
Comparatively, Friend ends up a lot further south than with the previous iteration of 245.
246 revised
No changes here, Friend just finishes farther along, opening this quest guard tied to him.
All other heroes repeat previous movement, although I think I forgot to bring 1 Nomad along, nothing that can't be handled on 311.
####
247
We will first get rid of Double Bert. To do so, we prepare LLLB in a defensive fashion with the Elixir of Life for the added +25% health.
Because Double Bert was a bit stubborn and insisted in capturing this town, I had to roll the dice and hope the catapult doesn't break the wall. This was actually frustrating because the moment I used 7 creature stacks, the catapult would always hit and break the same piece of wall. Anyhow, with 6 stacks it always failed to destroy this piece.
Get rid of the catapult ASAP. If your RNG is more favorable, you can wait a turn and cast buff instead this turn.
Round 2, cast 'Air Shield' to reduce shooter damage by 50%. The Zealots+Monks killed the Archangels previous turn.
From this point on, shooters will typically aim at the Behemoths although you may get lucky and they will target Phoenixes/Wyverns. Cast 'Curse' to further reduce their damage. 'Stone Skin' can also be useful as it reduces damage to ABs quite a bit.
After buffs are set up, we can divert the attention of the Zealots by resurrecting the Angels
So much overflow damage wasted, leaving only Monks to damage our army.
After 12 rounds, Monks are out of shots, Zealots will kill Archangels until they run out of shots as well, 12 rounds later.
All this time, the enemy is casting buffs and 'Clone' on Archangels. Thankfully, Ballista will target the clone each round. Nonetheless, there is a risk that the clones will force the Archangels to exit the garrison so we can't take the risk. Cast 'Dispel' right away.
Begin resurrecting your troops...
Double Bert will cast some more buffs and the 3rd or 4th spell will be 'Prayer'.
Immediately cast 'Dispel' as his next cast is usually 'Clone' again.
Rinse and repeat until Double Bert is exhausted. LLLB will still have over 2000 spell points
Resurrect everything then summon some Earth Elementals. Cast buffs on Ancient Behemoths (Bloodlust, Bless, Slayer) and cast 'Haste+Prayer' on your troops while the enemy gets served with 'Slow'. My slowest creature (Elementals@13) are now faster than his fastest creature (Archangels@9)
We can now use Teleport tactics! Take off enemy retaliation with Wyverns (hoping for Poison).
During 'wait phase', all enemies will be defending. Teleport Ancient Behemoths inside the castle.
Behemoths are really scary... -80% defense lets them plow through the Archangels which now have very little defense.
Next round you can take retaliation with Pegasi!
And then you can wipe off half of the remaining Angels.
Because Elementals are faster than Angels, teleport the Bears out during their turn.
Repeat this a few times, resurrecting Wyverns and Pegasi as needed. It takes very little time to completely obliterate the enemy with Behemoths.
Flawless victory. Badge of Courage ensured there was no easy way of stopping the shooters...
Now that BertBert is dead, we can push on the main quest path with Friend. First, a quest guard asking for Bunzenburn (rip 244).
And then the second asking for Double Bert's death (rip 247, perfect timing).
Friend visits this seer hut... 50 free Archangels.
This opens the way for show-off Kyrre and her 5890 movement after visiting the Oasis.
100 free Ghost Dragons... not much use to be honest, they are too weak to do damage and too few to be meat shield. For retaliation purposes, I only need 1.
Brewster lets Friend through who opens up a bunch of free quest guards (Keymaster, Teal hero,...). Then move Brewster next to Friend and the 2nd red hero, INGE.
Brewster transfers the army to Friend, keeping 1 Phoenix, 1 Wraith and Cloak of Velocity.
Attack INGE! First part - exhaustion. INGE also has +2 cape and Phoenixes which explains choice of creatures/artifact. Repeat same tactic as vs. ScytheScroge.
If the hero would have or would summon 1-hex units, we could simply run between 1-safe-tile forcefields.
Very quickly INGE is out of spell points, 400 goes down fast.
There's one problem - we can't run because of the Shackles!
~Suicide~ we'll get Brewster back next week (if RNG places Brewster in Red's hero pool, retreat a hero and hire Brewster after - J.U.S.T. D.O.N.'T. U.S.E. T.H.E. E.X.T.R.A. M.O.V.E.M.E.N.T!)
This paves the way for an easy win by Friend. Armor of the Damned and +3 speed.
First, hope that Crystal Dragons don't resist 'Slow' from AotD. It's possible to win the fight if they resist but you'll need more spell points than 1300 which is my current maximum on Friend.
As before, the 200 Archdevils are considered more of a threat than my Enchanters.
It's a big mistake, for now the enemy will be unable to reach me. Ghost Dragons are immune to 'Fear'.
And with 'Prayer', they are as fast as the Azures.
Because the enemy creatures all hit 'Wait' before acting (presence of shooters that can't be immediately reached), my Ghost Dragons will always get to move first so that I don't need +4 Speed artifacts or 'Haste'.
Cast all buffs [Precision, Prayer, Bless, Slayer, Stone Skin - yes Stone Skin] then 'Frenzy' to take out the blue Dragons. It takes around 11 shots, 10 if you get lucky with +3 Luck.
Before killing the Phoenixes, do cast Haste.
Repeat the process for all fliers, there will however be as much as 100 Crystal Dragons than can't be killed with arrows once the Enchanters run out. To reduce SP cost, use 'Quicksand' tactics.
There's no need to spam the entire battlefield. All you need is an edge, some obstacles and a short path. Once the enemy walks on quicksand traps, they will be revealed. He will soon enough understand that the quickest path to you is the one that gets him there in 2 turns so... take advantage of it as shown in these 4 screenshots.
Every two rounds this back and forth process can be repeated, after 4th screenshot you go back to 1st
Repeat as needed while you resurrect everything and use Archdevils to finish off the enemy.
Not a difficult fight given that INGE had 0 SP
We get 2 Cape of Velocity (one from deceased Brewster) but most important is 2nd Orb of Silt. We'll need 3 of them shortly.
After the fight, collect the nearby artifact and visit the seer hut before killing the pink hero.
The seer hut asks for the Pendant of Death which we just got. It's very generous!
To kill 'Wa!' the pink hero, all you need is Recanter's Cloak.
He has 9000 Magma Elementals, 1 Archmage and 1 Silver Pegasus and only level 4+ spells - so a sitting duck.
Enemy is Thorgrim so casting spells is difficult, although possible [0.15(1+59*0.05) = 59% odds to resist]. Just kite him which your big stacks, at 6 speed he has no chance to catch you.
Easy fight for a change.
Ignoring the 150 Archangels seer hut leaves me at this point with just enough movement for Town Portal! But not just yet, there are a few more things to do first.
Wake up Vertigo and take the Vampires from the garrison.
Go to this set of portals, I didn't test which is closest but I prefer leaving the others closed by quest guards, I used the Acre5 one.
Spacebar until you find your way to the bottom of the map where Sepello ended last turn. These 2 quest guards ask for the death of Wa! which died just a few steps east from here.
Put Vertigo aside and spam spacebar with Sepello to get back here.
Finally, Sepello gets to see some combat action using Vampire Lords.
Armor specialist + Vampire Lords vs. wandering creatures = easy win. 357 Dragons can only kill 57 vampires whereas I could drain enough life to raise almost 250.
Autocombat is faster...
We're sent to face Phoenixes next, same story.
Once Vampire Lords can't reach a new target, autocombat.
Yawn...
Switch-a-roo, use Vertigo to open further quest guards.
Also, leave the Vampires with Vertigo... I'm preparing a trap for another AI hero.
Now Sepello has just enough movement to waltz in and steal this Conflux town which is unguarded.
Yummy!
Sepello almost has same movement left as Friend
Alright, now we go back to LLLB and Friend. Meet in R'yleh.
Assemble Dragon Father relic, pieces were scattered around between Friend and LLLB.
Most important here is to bring along Archdevils and MGenies with LLLB as he goes to visit Sepello in our newest town, 'Gummy Gums' [it's near the minimap dragon's teeth]. Naturally I forgot the MGenies for this screenshot
Using typical Forcefield army and spell resistance, we can open up this Pandora's Box.
There are 9000 Faerie Dragons here but they can't do anything to troops hidden behind Forcefield.
Just keep spamming... reward is 4.5M experience
It's good for 2 levels 49-50! Even more spell points for LLLB
Behind this town, you will find the very well hidden Dark Blue Keymaster's Tent. Now we are only missing White and Green - both in the underground.
Go back to Gummy Gums by way of Town Portal (cheaper) and then head west, passing through the Stables because Mullich is blocking the way otherwise.
As the turn ends, Sepello will sleep in El Dorado with her MGenies.
LLLB is 1 step from Library...
Vertigo is sleeping at Angel dwelling a bit east from Gummy Gums and Friend is in R'yleh.
Brewster is dead.
During the night, we see stupidity of AI priorities. Capturing a town seems to be higher priority than killing hero... and then visiting Keymaster. In the end, Mullich wasted all his movement doing things that could wait and can't catch LLLB
You can see Vertigo is nearby and will be able to snatch the town right back.
New month! There's a lot of details going on for logistics which I'll try to limit, videos are there for extra details after all.
311
First thing in the new week, I bring back Brewster from the dead.
I also did some small modifications so that I could give her some boots and gloves without wasting other heroes' movement.
Every hero needs to visit Stables again since it's day 1 [not shown].
In Brewster's case, head to Acre5 after passing through Pay Castle.
Once again I go to the bottom portion of the map, looking to reach the seer hut on the far right as well as the 3rd Orb of Silt which is cropped out.
Some tiles west of here, Vertigo re-captures the Conflux town of Sir Mullich.
Mullich left his Enchanters here, they are Vampire food after 'Forgetfulness'
Friend gets to visit a Library and will collect the 150 Angels for real this time.
He also visits Stables and the well at Uruk before coming to Minas Morgul, there is a small side objective here which might come in handy later.
Similarly with LLLB, viit Stables and swap some slow troops out.
After this I make a side trip to 'Tower One', been a while since I came here.
Although there's a Garden of Revelation that I will visit here, it's not the intent of my visit.
To counteract the effects of the 'Pay Castle' construction events, I'm selling excess resources. I already have more than I can use and will get a lot again in a few days. I get around 300,000 gold this way which will let me buy out new recruits and set me back afloat for future weeks.
Afterwards, LLLB goes through Gummy Gums which was just recaptured by Vertigo. Just enough movement to hide behind the Brown Gate!
Due to an earlier lack of movement (I don't remember how much but it was less than 100 movement short), Sepello has to thread through the Robin Hood face of the minimap a second time. Might be optimizable but in any case it doesn't seem to slow me down in my tests
Hire 1 Rust Dragon which is needed in a few days. Leave it in Whipwhoop for now.
With Sepello's remaining movement, I open up the way for Friend as there are Dark Blue guards in the water.
Vertigo has a bit of movement left, he finishes 1 step away from Acre 5, leaving slow troops inside the town which can be transferred to him by another hero.
During the night, the trap is sprung. Mullich steals back the town. However, there is nothing else for him to do now, he has visited everything in his area. He therefore stops in town for the rest of the week.
If it wasn't clear, I've been recording small portions of logistics at a time and lazily splicing them together, it saves me a lot of time as I can focus on a few things at a time, make a save then continue later.
Sadly, I deleted the original second video here so I had to replace it with an approximation. The only difference is which troops LLLB carries anyhow...
312
Brewster/Kyrre officially gets to visit this small area reserved for her. Grab the 3rd Orb of Silt which is also required on the main objective path.
The seer hut gets us 4 levels.
I make a small detour to grab some Wraiths.
Bring these to Vertigo and add the troops which were left in Acre5's garrison.
The important troops here are Wraiths, Archmage and Bears.
Vertigo serves as deliverer to LLLB, once more going through portals.
*Important*
For this next fight, I was simply unable to bring more than ~25 flying units. The moment I had some more along, Mullich's Ghost Dragons would exit. Because he will always have speed advantage (his Phoenix start with 27 speed, more than I can achieve), he will cast 'Slow' then shuffle his troops.
Fortunately, bringing fewer fliers solved the issue. Also note that I can't bring along shooters because he has none - his creatures would all fly out right away and kill me.
You might be thinking... "We've seen this already, teleport behemoths zzzz"... Yes. But in fact, no. There's a new trick here... keep reading!
Get rid of RNG catapult with Meteor Shower ASAP.
Next round, cast 'Protection from Earth'. This ensures enemy is not interested in using 'Implosion'.
Thanks to enemy rules which make them prioritize certain spells ahead of some others based on various criteria (which spells I have, which buffs are active, Mullich will spam 'Anti-Magic' non-stop.
Once 5 creatures have it, Dispel it.
Repeat this process for a looong time. Enemy spends ~100 SP while we spend 9 SP every 5 turns. Basic math suggests around 90 rounds!
Now that enemy is exhausted, buff your Behemoths and slow down enemy creatures.
But there's one big problem remaining. For 'Teleport' tactics to work, I need my behemoths to be faster than the fastest enemy. 9 base speed, 4 from artifacts, 4 from Prayer, 5 from haste... 22 speed bears.
Hummm. Azure Dragons immune to slow. 19 base speed, 2 Mullich, 3 artifacts... 24 speed Azures.
It seems there's just no way forward for this tactic to work. Maybe if you stare hard enough at the spellbook you may come across a very powerful spell... I will give you a hint and then add some space before providing answer in case you want to think for yourself before being spoiled
Baaaad morale! 25% chance for creature to miss turn
Now all you need to do his spam 'Defend' until Azure Dragons freeze in panic
They would otherwise 'Wait' and there is no safe way to attack them without losing all Behemoths after they'd have attacked. Take retaliation off with Wraiths.
And now we can use Teleport tactic.
This is 100% safe as Ghost Dragons cannot suffer 'Fear' and will get a speed tie with non-slowed Phoenix.
This will take a while, but because of enemy's troops exiting castle it seemed to be the only way to move forward. When the last blue guy dies, we can simply use normal Teleport tactic. It goes a lot faster because these other creatures are so weak by comparison.
Source video was 17 minutes so it's definitely not the longest fight so far, not even close. There'll be more candidates incoming for that title though.
Let's give a small break to LLLB's ingenuity! Off to Friend's side objective. Sepello can get this small Pandora in the water and then come back ashore.
There's a big meeting going on near Minas Morgul, 4 of my 5 heroes are here. Mr. Fat is basically useless with no way to travel so he stays in charge of the Tavern.
First Vertigo transfers some troops to Brewster as well as Armor of the Damned.
These are brought to Friend... make sure to equip max +speed.
Finally, this is our target. 'Sphere of Permanence' is godly
While this may look like a RNG-fiesta where you need to avoid 'Fear', there's actually no RNG after round 3.
Round 1 - Forcefield *SAFE*
Round 2 Prayer: Titans have 19 speed and move first next round because Azure Dragons were waiting.
Round 3 - RNG, 10% odds for 'Fear' on Titan. Reload if that's the case. Otherwise, Forcefield *SAFE*
Round 4 - Haste on Vampires.
Bye bye RNG, Undead immune to 'Fear'.
Kill all the Blue guys. For the Phoenixes, add 'Haste' to Titans. At 22 speed, we now act before Phoenixes' 21.
Very easy, 7 million experience for our patience!
Good for a few levels.
At this point Friend may visit a few locations to hire troops and swap out everything but 1 MGenie [not shown]. He will finish near 'Gummy Gums' to visit some more stat boosters.
Meanwhile, Brewster heads to Whipwhoop where she can collect the Rust Dragon.
Sepello hires some more troops, this time I need some Archdevils.
Now bring these to Brewster in Whipwhoop. Important artifacts are also transferred, max +speed, Ammo Cart and Boots of Levitation.
With the remaining movement, Brewster waterwalks over to a water event. The one in the water is safe, other than it steals all your spell points. If you take 1 more step however, you'll face extremely powerful army (thousands of Titans) so don't go there, sleep on top of water!
One more meeting goes on, this time in Sharp Corner. It's time for payback with Blue.
First Vertigo picks up Enchanters from Spello.
Then transfer these to LLLB. Almost all of these troops are mandatory for a successful fight, which we will see during the night.
There's no clue where to initiate this fight but at least there are not many locations which can be reached by Resus (fewer than 30 tiles) so it's not too long to find the favorable terrain.
As the night falls, Resus attacks. We can set up a nice trap for him, first 'Haste' so that almost all of our troops are faster than his.
Archdevils can do whatever, they will be prioritized by Azure Dragons. Pegasi and MGenies draw firebreath on the enemy.
Also, hide Gold Dragon in the enclosed terrain, it's the key to victory.
Azure Dragons favor killing Archdevils over Enchanters which lets me move Enchanters...
The Rust Dragons take the bait and using 'Blind' I completely seal off the Gold Dragon. We're now immune from losing, but also 1 hair from death!
As per usual, the second phase of battle is exhaustion. Faerie Dragons are never considered for firebreath placement so we can draw it on them. Blind them so they don't cause problems with spellcasting.
Raise Wraith...
As I'm wearing +4 speed artifacts, Gold Dragon @20 acts before Azure@19. Use the occasion to teleport wraith to safety.
Finally wraith gets to move, draw firebreath on Faeries! Enemy will exhaust himself casting 'Resurrection'.
If Gold Dragons are 'Feared' when they should use Teleport, it's not the end of the world.
Wraith dies and Azure Dragons move...
Simply force them to move back 2 rounds later!
Rinse and Repeat... enemy will even consider using 'Sacrifice' on Gold Dragons, making LLLB's job easier.
Now the fight can start. Resurrect Enchanters and cast 'Haste' and 'Prayer' so they are faster than Azure Dragons.
Wait with both Enchanters and Gold Dragons. Since Goldies cannot receive 'Haste' or 'Prayer', they will move first in the 'Wait' phase and can exit the fortress. Move the Enchanters to the very back where 2-hex units cannot reach. From here, we're 100% safe to kill enemy with buffs+Frenzy.
When shots finally run out, 'Blind' the Rust Dragons and bring back the Devils.
With 300 of these, it's relatively fast to finish off the enemy.
The Gold Dragon cannot be resurrected, casualty of war. The Wraith I just ignore because I have tons and it would slow me down if I brought it back.
Finally, Armor of Wonder is back into our hands, 111 is 2 months ago now!
One level, same as Friend. While Friend may be the best shooter and able to execute some fights faster than any other character, his title as 'main' is becoming heavily contested. In fact, most of the difficult fights from now on will be done with LLLB or Sepello. The enemies are getting too strong for Enchanters or Titans without 'Frenzy' or a lot of 'Disrupting Ray'... Ancient Behemoths will rule the land.
Uau, this last fight is amazing.
It's not like you are using ONE very innovative technic, you are using a combination of three quite simple and already showned plus a very, very particular troop placement to do what would otherwize be impossible. All in all it almost deserves a discussion thread on itself.
Thanks for becomming a so active member of the community, you make us better.
it would be nice if we could create a new "tactics" manual inspired from those exploits. For example, what is the ratio HP flying units to keep defender in town, what is the ration shooters HP needed to remain alive to keep flying units inside town and such things. Can you write down when you find such conclusions then post them somewhere? It would be great, thanks.
These exploits can be documented (as in their existence made known to everyone) but I doubt there is an easy explanation. As far as I can tell, it's a function of number of creatures but also primary stats because the AI evaluates how much damage you can deal to its army and reacts to that accordingly. I guess what I'm saying is that there's no clear-cut formula to figure these things out other than trial and error or figuring out where AI draws the line at which point we could use H3calc to get answer.
For instance in the fight vs. Mullich, the Ghost Dragons would exit for lack of finding a suitable position within the garrison if I bring too many fliers.
However the place they went depends on position of Behemoths. If I left Behemoths as in the screenshot, they simply exited on top row. However, placing Behemoths in top spot so that they could reach after being slowed had the AI place the Dragons lower, just out of reach of Behemoths.
There is clearly something being calculated which is tied to your creatures able to damage enemy, I'm just not sure what it is exactly.
46 Ghost Dragons - fine
47 Ghost Dragons - cast slow and exit
The best I can do is give general rules of thumb, like "AI doesn't care much to attack very weak troops so it will not use 'Teleport' if that's all that can be killed by using this spell" (see 243). Now as to what constitutes weak troops, I have no idea how to measure that but you might imagine a low number of creatures as the answer.
Some things are easily summarized: cloned Azure Dragons continue to cause 'Fear' after they've vanished naturally (without being killed) - make sure you kill them to get rid of 'Fear'.
Maybe Biobob has better answer, he made the map needing a lot of these tricks in any case!
This thread is pages long: 
posted April 27, 2016 06:52 PM
This will let Sepello win some fights no other hero can manage.
Even though most of us wouldn't care in the least
