The Fiery Moon (H4)

[Wheeler Dealer]

This is an H3 campaign translated for H4. This isn't a walkthrough or even a review, more like a journal. I probably made this "journal" too detailed.

A Fiery Moon - Trying to play on Champion it's always tough to get started with Barbarians.

Endless Sands (max 6)

Not much can be done at first, capture a sawmill and a Centaur Stable and pick up a few available resources. Lots of sitting around waiting for some wood and gold to generate so I could build something, usually after a trip to the market.

At the beginning of Month 2, I took Tarnum and 4 Order Lords against a company of imps guarding the ore pit. I was able to inflict 5% casualties before retreating. Was able to build Wrestling Pits and Areana of Honor before my next attack so things will pick up.

It took 6 hit and run attacks before beating the imps on 1,2,7. I hired another barbarian and built an Arsenal along the way.

There's another company of imps barring me from a Learning Stone. That would give all 6 of my heroes a level. Hit and run while building toward a Cyclops Den, then switch to armies with creatures.

Broke through but on the same turn Red popped out of the one way exit and took my town and hired all those creatures I was hoping to begin hiring now. I give up, the Barbarians are just too slow getting started on Champion.

Let's start over on Expert

BTW, you can reach L6 with at least 3 heroes without using the ToK so save your gold. There are 3 Learning Stones and a Dream Teacher so Order Lords can reach L4 without other xp.

Aha! The berserkers' just to the SW will join!

After a couple of hit and run attacks on the company of imps guarding the ore pit, I bought all the creatures available and tried it. Lost a bunch of berserkers, but that's what they do. Similar plan to reach the Learning Stone with similar results. So, I had my ore pit and Learning Stone by the end of week 1.

I have no chance against the Evil Eyes guarding the Green KMT. I can beat the band of Ogre Magi, but it will cost my whole army and doesn't do anything for me, so I took out the cerebi guarding the Green border guard just for the xp. Now I'll have to just sit on my hands and build for a while.

After more than a week of sitting in my castle I had 4 cyclopes and 18 harpies, some more centaurs and a death knight to spur them on. The band of Ogre Magi only took 8 of my berserkers this time. There were twice as many Ogre Magi guarding the Unnatural Shield but they only got my other 13 berserkers. Now the Evil Eyes and the Green KMT. Lost half my harpies.

It's 1,4,6 and I'm free of the starting area.

Gained a Learning Stone and a sawmill before decimating my army to beat 14 cyclopes to gain a gold mine.

Both Tarnum and Fiona (Death Knight) maxed so I hired a barbarian (2,2,3). At 2,3,1 I made first contact with Red. He looks really tough even without his band of Devils.

At 2,3,5 Red took my town, fortunately I had taken out all the troops and was well ahead to join my main army on the surface. Turns out the win condition from Scenario Information is wrong. You have to take the opposing town but don't have to hold your own. The early script made me think this was the case but the later information confused me.

On 2,4,4, I attacked the Red Town thinking to begin a back and forth until I could figure something out. Defending was the weakest of three Red armies and I still lost both my Behemoths in the battle. Suprise, you win!!!

Nameless Land (max 12)

Another tough start. By using hit and run attacks with an order lord along to take some hits and letting me hang in an extra turn or two, managed to defeat the company of wolves guarding the crystal mine at 1,2,1. Not much I can do until I can build a strong army.

At 1,3,5 I rolled out 3 cyclopes, 17 harpies and 53 centaurs to try the garrison pinning me into my small starting area. 10 Thunderbirds and 68 orcs, no chance. sigh...

At 2,1,7 I got a huge gift of gold, Let's try the garrison again. Got through this time. Bad news, Red has taken a neutral town just on the other side of the garrison and has an army I have no chance against.

Good news. Took a lightly protected Red town near the eastern edge. Started sending creatures there to reinforce my army. Trouble is Red has two armies I can't deal with. I was allowed to hold the town for a few turns, then we had some back and forth where Red would take the town and leave it undefended for me to take back. Now Red has camped an army there and is sending a large army toward my home town.

Charged the lightly defended west central town, Red pulled back his big army to defend leaving a L14 General exposed. Took out the general. Rolled back around to the garrison NW of center. Took out the garrison, got a bunch of bonuses NW from there and then turned back toward the NE. Red sent his garrisoned troops out to meet my army but left Blackdome undefended! Anticlimactic, sent an Order Lord who was exploring nearby in and took Blackdome. Wrong win conditions again. As told in the beginning scripts, I only needed to take Blackdome to win.

Tarnum reached L12 and Fiona L5 (She didn't carry over so she had to start again from scratch). I was never remotely close to the two best Red armies, but the AI sucks. Won at 3,1,4

The Sparkling Bridge (max 18)

There are 9 Learning Stones and plenty of juicy battles, Don't worry about experience. My heroes made L18 even though one started at L5. Other than your starting town the rest are preserves and, other than the Creature Portal, they don't offer strong creatures.

Week One was pretty uneventful. There are some pretty serious stacks of water elementals. Wish I had better magic resistance. I'll need areal army for those. There are 2 Learning Stones nearby so Order Lords will pay for themselves quickly.

Week Two saw gradual progress. I still can't produce L2 creatures but I did get my Fort done. Got ambushed by 45 fire elementals and won. At the end of Nameless Land both my heroes acquired 3 magic disciplines and a few L1 spells. Precision, Curse, Blur and Bind Wounds come in handy in these heroes only battles. I got railroaded in to paying some sprites 3500g and 12 jewels. I went back and sold my jewels and spent my gold, got the info at a discount. Isn't prescience great! Battles with air elements are close. Some hit and run required.

Week 3, still attacking with my two heroes and hiring Order Lords for resources. Found a Blue town but can't take it without any army. Strangest thing, even though I have put several patrols within easy reach of the town, Blue won't come out to kill them! I was producing harpies and close to producing cyclopes. My two heroes can take out a stack of AE using one Potion of Immortality.

Week Four, I'm producing cyclopes, should start Behemoths next week. About time to pull together my best army and try the Blue town. Still no answer for WE stacks but AE and FE can be done.

Week 5, started producing behemoths, captured a gold mine in the north center. It was guarded by FEs, should have gone after it much earlier. Time to put together a real army.

Week 6, At 2,2,4 I took Deer Run. I had 2 behemoths, 8 cyclopes, 26 harpies and 49 centaurs. There were no casualties and just one Potion of Immortality used. There is no Ranger guild and no useful creatures except in the Creature Portal. Just 3 WEs across the front of a square formation will let me take out these scores or companies of WEs guarding valuable sites. My WEs will even let me Fatigue these Phoenixes and Thunderbirds if I have to go after them.

Week 7, My most difficult battle was 28 cyclopes. Hired 17 AEs and one Mantis for this battle. Lost one WE and 5 AEs. Now have access to 4 Learning Stones. With the 2210 my Order Lords bring in my income is 6210 a day. Got to take on dozens of Phoenixes soon.

Week 8, Battle at a Pandora's Box yielded Adamantine Armor (not) and a scroll of Chain Lightning (worthless). Building up to fight the 22 Phoenixes to pass to the NW. I can chip away one at a time with my two main heroes.

Week 9, Took some time to clear caravan routes. Gathering my army, a couple more hit and run strikes on the Phoenixes, down to 18 now.

Week 10, My 2 heroes know Song of Peace, Precision and Bless. My first plan for the Phoenixes was to take in 3 single WEs my 2 heroes 23 cyclopses and 105 centaurs. Didn't work (prescience). Tried just the two heroes and 23 cyclopes against 16 Phoenixes. Flawless Victory. The Phoenixes didn't fight properly. Once the stack was damaged, they would pass up chances to attack.

Well this will be difficult. The last Blue town has 99 FEs on a castle turret. My first attempt didn't go well (reload). Overs, a few days later. Not so hard after all. Went back with my 2 heroes, 24 cyclopes and one centaur. Put the centaur between Tarnum and the FEs. After the first shot by the cyclopes Fiona raised 16 skeletons from a big stack of dead wolves. Put the skeletons in front of Tarnum. The FEs kept getting off the turret and approaching the wall, I guess to try to get a shot at a high value target. Meanwhile the two enemy heroes busily cast spells on their troops which Fiona would cancel - wash, rinse, repeat. The cyclopes (with Precision and Bless) would shoot the FEs when they got down, 2 or 3 times as much damage this way.

Another Pandora's Box where I was promised Adamantine Armor but didn't receive it. Did get a scroll of Inferno which I can't use.

Week 11, 26 Phoenixes guarding the tunnel. After a couple of hit and run attacks (took along Erica Fade to give me longer to retreat) suddenly it became apparent that I was going to win instead of having to retreat.

Week 12, took the penultimate Red Town, got the orange key which will let me reach the last enemy town and the green key which will in turn allow me to reach the Ring of Speed.

Well, here's a dilemma. I didn't believe the victory conditions, "own all the towns". There was a clue along the way where I learned I needed the Ring of Speed to use the Sparkling Bridge but I've been given the victory before I got the ring.

I decided, in the spirit of the scenario to reload and go after the Ring of Speed. It took a week to gather my army and a couple more days to clear the two large armies barring my way (lost 2 Behemoths and 12 Mantises). I wasn't given the Ring of Speed! And I still could use the Sparkling Bridge (Green Portal). Both heroes made L18, finished on 4,2,6.

Fiery Moon

The only artifacts that carry over are two sets of boots. I selected the centaurs since both of my heroes know Precision and Bless. Might should have take the nomads and used Martyr to keep them alive.

Week 1, took Mersch on day 2. Damn, I need a fort! The 92 berserkers joined (haven't used them). Almost done with the circuit around my town.

Week 2, my 2 heroes jumped into a Blue Entrance and into a company of FEs. Blur, Nature Ward, Regeneration, Bless and Precision on Tarnum did the trick. Took the necropolis to the NE. Gobbled up all the local mines. There's a gold mine guarded by 44 cyclopes, haven't figured that one out. Dozens of Thunderbirds guard the pass to the Green Key, hit and run for now.

Week 3, Victory conditions wrong, I control all towns so, as expected, my victory condition is to defeat Xyron. I've found Xyron but I'm not ready!

Week 4, I let Fiona have the 50 spell points from the quest. Hope she stays to the end. Surprise, my two heroes took out 49 cyclopes easily. Nothing left but Xylon.

Week 5, All 3 of my cities are built out so time to put together my army. Unfortunately, my caravan routes are clogged by ghosts. Tarum and Fiona will need to clear the ghosts. I have 6 Order Lords who have hit all 4 Learning Stones and they are chipping in 1690 gold a day.

Week 6, Gathering my army, a couple of hit and run attacks to whittle down the number of devils in Xyron's army.

Week 7, I took in 16 Devils, 9 Thunderbirds, 12 cyclopes, 17 venom spawn, 40 cerebi and my two heroes. Won handily.

Vorr, the Insane (max ?)

Week 1, Cleared my beginning area with my 2 heroes they both reached L21. Got the telescope. Got cyclopes into production.

Week 2, Arms Legion? Attracts extra troops? It appears I got a one time boost in the creatures available. Captured a neutral town.

Week 3, Fought 20 Phoenixes to gain access to the NW. Phoenixes are broken. Once I wounded a stack they wouldn't move until the stack was replaced by rising Phoenixes. My 2 heroes took them easily. I'm having trouble keeping Fiona's spell points up. She has expert life along with basic order and death. Enough to offer useful support to Tarnum in combat but there has been no way to help recover spell points, yet. Then I took a Blue preserve, that solved my problem replenishing spell points. I think my Arms Legion kicked in again, so maybe it's once a week.

Week 4, took blue's second preserve on day 1. My L3 Druid got 6,655 xp for fleeing! Blue popped out of the yellow exit and took my nearby undefended town. Took me two turns to get it back but it got me over 50,000 gold. While Blue held my town they built Breeding Pens and later paid over 35,000 to retreat. Broke through the green portal and lots of creatures joined me!

Week 5, Had my 2 main heroes exploring with 20 thunderbirds. Finished off Blue.

Week 6, fought 40 Devils to get 3 artifacts and a Pandora's Box on a small island in the ENE. Fiona died keeping my thunderbirds alive. Figured it would be easier to get her to a town than to replace a bunch of thunderbirds. Getting back to town proved to be confusing.

Week 7, A few serious battles with Red. Took his big invading army, his town in the NE and his garrison. The biggest problem is his large stacks of Devils, they are so quick and hit so hard, it's difficult to keep everything alive. I found Vorr in front of his town on 2,3,7. I beat him with Tarnum, Fiona and 39 Thunderbirds losing 6 of the birds. Both heroes were L25.

There were a few other things I wanted to do if this wasn't the final scenario but that proved unnecessary.

[iLiVeInAbOx05]

Once again, amazing feedback! I'll give this a thorough read when I get home and apply some fixes / updates.

What do you think about the difficulty? Looked like Champion was impossible, and even Expert was borderline impossible, but you were able to trick the silly AI. Should the AI bonuses be scaled back a little bit so that you can actually fight them, or on the higher difficulties is it expected that you will have to try hit and run type tactics?

[Wheeler Dealer]

I think this was the best one of the H3 converted campaigns yet. I actually had to have an army and deal with counter attacks! I thought the difficulty was perfect for Expert. Kudos!!! Great fun.

The problem with trying to play a barbarian on Champion is that there are no spells to tip the balance so it is just might on might. Not much to do against a larger army. If you want to make Champion doable for a very experienced, very patient player you have to make the first scenario easier.

I get bored if I never need an army, just kick ass heroes. Not sure that's something you can fix. Delicate balance, if I need too much time to build an army the enemies get too much of a head start.

Again, Thanks!!!