[H3] Any tips for South of Hell at 200%

[joey23834]

Hello guys

I am having trouble with this scenario on impossible difficulty (no allies)... any advice would be great.

This is the map where there are 4 islands: northernmost (hell), middle (mini-treasure zone + town) and 2 southernmost, where you and another player reside. Islands connected by an underground passage (which is blocked by borders) and several monoliths. Gold is not as much of a problem as resources are on this map IMO

I've found this map very hard because at about month 3, red player (hell) shows up at your doorstep with not only a force that greatly outnumbers yours (not a problem in most cases) but also a hero that is on par with or even stronger than yours. It seems that even if you survive the first attack, you are crippled for the next time they come around...

- Should I be attacking hell early on or is it more effective to turtle and defend? I am starting to think maybe playing offensive is the way to go...

- Which town will maximize my chance to win on this map? So far I have tried Tower to make use of the default native terrain (snow), and Inferno to make it easier to defend with castle gate and extra inferno units from the underground inferno town. If I choose to rush early, what town is a good choice?

- Any circumstances where I should just restart immediately? (for example, if I fail to get town portal or second town of the same race as the starting one)

On my tower attempt, I tried to snowball by taking out the neighbouring player... I took control of both south islands but I was destroyed when hell came to the south because I could not defend so many areas at once...

With inferno, I thought maybe I could get a massive demon stack because of the weekly reinforcements but the native area's mobs are too weak and makes it difficult to farm effectively.

TLDR I suck at this map, TY for helping out a noob

[cjlee]

I played it so long ago, please excuse me for any mistaken memories:

1) you should take control of the AI ally. If you don't, these guys are just useless.

2) Wizard is great because of their spells. On this map Expert Earth Magic and Town Portal is a must.

3) Letting them attack you is absolutely not the way to go. They outnumber you too much.

4) Losing on this map at 200% is not noobish. Thinking you can defend at 200% and still win, is noobish.

[Pitsu]

A few thoughts:
Hell has more towns than you, so the faster you strike the easier it is. I'd say week 4 or 5 is probably latest to venture into its territory and try to grab some towns.
Do not be afraid of losing towns or give up some territory. You need to win the war not every battle. You may need guerilla war.
The usual rules: money from chests, dwellings before town halls.
Since main enemy is inferno, starting with it would allow easy army mixing and castle gate. However, early on you need to do a lot with lvl 1-4 creatures, which may be difficult with inferno.

[Pitsu]

After having (re)played and completed the map, I could recommend rampart as starting town (possibly with Mephala). Centaurs and elves should give you one or two towns in Hell by the end of week 3 without much trouble.