Homm4 - the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[Eli]

First campaign, level four.

The blue castle is behind the blue gate, together with the blue keymaster.
There are NO portal gates, and the only option I have is conuqering the orange castle.
The problem is that I just cant conquer it with 5 heroes and 10 champions, no matter how good the heroes are.

[mactbone]

This is the one where you rescue the guy isn't it! Have you tried assaulting the castle? Hmm, trying to think... I don't remember having a whole lot of trouble with this one. You know what, I think that's what I did, I ignored everything and just attacked the castle and won. If you need more help, just describe the place a little better, I can't totally remember this.

[mactbone]

Just for clarification, you are combining your heroes into one kick ass party, aren't you?

[Eli]

Yes, they are all in one stack.

In the castle you have one level 30 Pyromancer, 30 nightmares, 30 efreetes, 57 orcs, 92 bandits, 25 minotaurs and 40 medusas.

In my army I have 5 heroes, all on levels 20-28, three magicians and two warriors. Also 20 Elves and 3 Champions(I lost some when fighting the garrisoned army before the castle).

[Eli]

And a small tactical problem I have when I try to assault the castle is the enemy hero, who has a very strong fireball spell. The first thing he does is casting it one me killing 2-3 heroes(who must survive). I dont even have the time to drink the Potion of Immortality.

[mactbone]

Hmmm, well one thing is that you can drink the potion before battles, just go to your inventory and cast it like a spell while you're on the overland map.

Are you SURE there's nothing else you can do?

[Eli]

Here's the savegame, maybe I missed something.

[Grumbold]

Now playing the game and enjoying it a lot, despite a few of the minor frustrations mentioned already, like surprise crashes. Since it autosaves every turn that's not too hard to put up with unless you've just sweated through a tough combat. The Guess what, though - the UK version is shipped with not only the manual but also the town building quick reference chart in .pdf only. 3do seem to be busy sacking lots of NWC staff at the moment. I hope they'll get rid of a few of their own suits who made these marketing decisions too.....

[moomin]

Well, Grumbold, suits never seem to get the short end
of the stick in cases like this. I wouldn't hold my breath.

As for the game, I'm over my infatuation. While it good
at the core, unless the patch addresses the total lack
of strategic AI, it won't last long on my HD.

[mactbone]

Eli, you need to recruit more champions, and when you're ready to fight in the castle get rid of the elves because they're seriously hurting your morale. Also, I think that you may be able to get inside that castle. Summon a ship over where you start and see what's out there. There may be a portal.

[Standup]

Maybe i just need to play it more but i don't find it easy to tell at a glance the relative strengths/skills of units. It feels that a lot of the info is buried away in sub screens or mouse clicks especially on the combat screen - what spells have i cast on my units ??
I'd also agree with the need for shading in the combat screen i keep moving units to the wrong place.
The graphics ? bit too cluttered and garish and don't mean anything to me but i'm hoping that will change.
My main complaint ? No paper manual. I shouldn't get so annoyed as this is the second thread i've mentioned it in.

[mactbone]

Hmm, I got a paper manual, I guess 3DO dislikes foreigners.

[Standup]

Feels that way (see the might + magic 9 thread). Maybe North Americans are more likely to complain/sue etc or its the strong pound, smaller market so they don't care ? Or maybe they just don't like us foreigners

If i feel really bored i might ask them

[FrustratedPoet]

hmmm, i've got a paper manual with my copy, Standup. and a handy poster that shows the stats of all the units in the game.

did you buy your copy in the UK? if so then i think you should take it back to the shop you bought it from and demand your manual.

[Grumbold]

I think you'll find you got the 12 or so page tutorial chapter and the monster chart in printed form. The disk contains the full 80 page manual, the monster chart and the town chart in .pdf. Unlike MM IX I didn't find it quite so irritating to play without the printed information though since the skills are fairly intuitive and there are no arbitrary limits about what one character or another can learn. Other than the town construction options, which would be very useful but can be discovered with some clicking on the town screen, the most important information is the bonus each type of hero gets on promotion when they attain their second line of skills. You don't need to look at that too often.