Shadow Dreams by Grumpy Old Wizard

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cjlee
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Shadow Dreams by Grumpy Old Wizard

Unread postby cjlee » 19 May 2011, 17:36

I played this map a long time ago on normal and found it pretty tough. I really can't survive on it on Heroic!

Recently I replayed it on Hard as Sylvan. My hero was Ylthin (Unicorn Maiden). As is my custom, I made a vast number of savegames and played the final battle several times using a different combination of tactics, skills and artifacts.

Playing this has raised some questions.

Here's my first question.

The enemy boss hero, Red Slayer, is set at level 39. No matter what you do, you are going to end up level 30, give or take 1 level by the time you have conquered everybody. There are several trees, so you may get to about level 35 before the boss fight.

Enemy is way superior to you in terms of stats. Even if you max out all stats and collect all artifacts possible (ignoring the lottery of buying in castle marketplaces), Enemy Boss will have significantly higher stats and pretty good artifacts. Even with the Distract feat, she can move pretty often.

I find myself overly reliant on Mask of Equity. I just can't win without this one single artifact! I used it when I played this map 2 years ago (can't reember how I got it), although on this try I bought it in a marketplace.

Although Ylthin specializes in Unicorns, I wound up using druids to channel spellpower to her (resulting in a spellpower above 40) and relying on casting Divine Vengeance (rather than her troops) to beat this scenario. Even with Nature's Luck and 3 favored enemies, my troops couldn't inflict serious harm on the enemy.
(Ranger vs Necro is one of the most annoying fights. Ranger has low attack and Necro has high defense.)

My question is, how to beat this scenario WITHOUT the mask. Even if you are not trying to cast spells on the enemy, it is still necessary for the purposes of dispelling nasty enemy spells.

Does anyone have experience beating Shadow Dreams WITHOUT the mask?

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PrairiePlayer
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Shadow Dreams

Unread postby PrairiePlayer » 20 May 2011, 21:26

I have played Shadow Dreams many times as it is one of my favorite maps. I often replay the map a couple times a year and have won while playing Elves, Wizards and even Haven (but not so often). I will be honest and say that I don't think I have ever consciously sought out the Mask of Equity before fighting the Red Slayer. If I had it, fine, if not, I used other artifacts, usually the Dragon set if I was lucky.
What I have found is that getting Leadership skill was most important to winning. One reason is because the Red Slayer casts a big morale penalty and a 3 or 4 Morale skill rating is essential. The other reason is that Leadership along with Diplomacy skill usually helps me recruit some very useful neutral monster stacks that seem to make the difference in the last fight.
I have never won without Leadership skill.

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cjlee
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thanks for replying

Unread postby cjlee » 21 May 2011, 22:40

Now that you mentioned it, I have won with Haven and without Mask of Equity. But it was on normal, so it doesn't count.

I found playing with Haven was easier. You get Nicholas (Sovereign) as a secondary hero, so you have an extra 40 paladins per week (by planning carefully and having Nicholas transit between your two towns). In the end I had a few hundred paladins. With leadership, morale artifacts, empathy and that all-important Divine Guidance, my paladins would finish 3 enemy stacks at least before dying. (And then my Archangels would resurrect).

But without mask of equity... whew! The problem lies in the level difference. Knight can still do ok because you can train enough paladins to survive long enough to kill the Red Slayer. Other heroes, esp. those who need to cast cleansing or puppet master, would be defeated by the level difference in spellpower.

I've won with Dwarves without Mask of Equity, but that was a very unpredictable fight. It was the only battle in my heroes experience where I used Runes on Every Single Turn. I was actually losing 3/4 of the battle, and without wonderful stuff like Battle Rage and resurrect I would definitely have lost.

Not even Wulfstan in the Flamboyant Exit campaign battle was 1/10 as hard. Well done, Grumpy Wizard! Like you, I LOVE this map!

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wimfrits
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Unread postby wimfrits » 22 May 2011, 14:17

Played this map long ago and I found the challenge level pretty ok. I did play Haven though.

As for the mask, I never found a use for it on a main hero. There usually is better headgear available.
Can be nice for a defense hero or a spellcasting hit-and-run hero though
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

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cjlee
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Unread postby cjlee » 27 May 2011, 19:57

Actually, you're right. I just finished it on Heroic without Mask of Equity. The final victory was incredibly easy. I had 240 Archangels and nearly 400 paladins. (picked up at least 140 Seraphs that I converted.)

My problems stemmed from trying to finish it in 4 months rather than 6. I generally hate to play games where I am not moving. In my playstyle, my main hero is unveiling new areas of the shroud/ fog of war every turn.

Playing this overly aggressively on heroic is very hard because everyone is allied against you and too strong to kill without losses that will make your next battle hard.


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