The Triumvirate

[hprwhg12]

1.6 heroic



Do not let Rutger go underground. He will get a WAY bigger un-dead army



I went slowly killing and picking up everything with Zehir (no logistics)on the way to Godric. Once there Zehir remained/emptied the underground and I had Godric run straight for the gate stopping for nothing until through. I then had him clear the path to the first town. Took town on month 2 week 1 day 2. Ellaine showed up immediately but was simple, she ran half way through and I lost 2 monks with my lvl 20 Godric with resurrect/puppet master/triple ballistic.



While waiting for Zehir to finish down below, I decided to have Godric sit in town building troops because I had mad resources and money and knew Rutger was not far behind. He showed up on day 1 week 3 month 2 with his big army but said "normal" compared to Godric still sitting in town. Zehir had finished below and was one step from the +2 arena.



My forces were too strong in town with Godric, so Rutger ran for Zehir. Zehir being "no chance" with or without summon phoenix. I had him instant travel across the dead trees and headed back down. Rutger followed slowly the first turn grabbing the attack/luck/and +2 arena. I continued further underground. Rutger ran straight for Zehir. I got about a quarter of the way in before he was literally two steps away. I used town portal and got away lickety split.



Having both heroes at home and Rutger days away. I figure I will make a break for it and see if I can take over his other towns and he can have the first one. Rutger decided to stay below and take over everything. It took him at least a week and a half. Meanwhile with both Zehir/Godric I took over all three of his Haven towns in that time.



It now stated that I was "low" with Rutger. I took Godric, who had just taken over the third lower Haven town, back to the first town. Zehir was far away going for the gold mine you get by boat. I was 2 days away from first town when Rutger popped-up top side. Next turn Rutger ran a little and then instant traveled over the dead trees and his turn was done. I made it to town and I traded resources and bought what troops I could, at this point the money had been wiped clean building the other towns up. I had no movement, but I was ready now with a decent (not great) army and still saying "low". Next turn he only took a couple of steps so I figure he must of summoned creatures. Boy did he. It wasn't haven troops anymore either. he now had 90 shadow dragons, 120 Wraiths, 275 Vamp Lords,400 Specters,875 Zombies, and kept his 16 angels and 28 paladins. HOW? he only had 60 magic points and had previously used instant travel. I tried, but no way.



So I loaded back before I started heading for third town and headed straight for Rutger, who was still below. Again when I was a day away from attacking him he changed his army. Different this time though His angels/paladins where now upgraded and had 24/35 respectively. He also had 125 upgraded monks along with the 90sd, 125Wr/ 275vl 400sp and no zombies.



Frustrated I just loaded all the way back to where Rutger first showed up and just had Godric attack him and I won. He ran. I then proceeded to take over the three haven towns again. Rutger appeared only once with a puke army and ran again , when attacked. Once the haven towns were mine. I got Findan and he took over Necro town where Rutger was hiding with nothing. Seeing inside necro town it only had skeletons,zombies and ghosts. Also the third lower Haven town was barely touched and did not have angels or paladins.



So where did the Huge un-dead army come from? How could he summon so many critters with so low magic points? or with the second reload where did upgraded angels,paladins, and monks come from? I owned three out of four Haven towns and the one that was still his did not have these buildings. Why didn't he do this tactic and come for me a few days after I had defeated him? or when Findan was coming for the Necro town with him in it. Is that suppose to be Rutger Hauer? Looks like him too.



I have no clue. All I will say is when Rutger was underground he got an army from hell but when I kicked his butt before he went underground he stayed a weak kitten.

[Bravehome]

Had trouble with this map on Hard playing 'conventional' release Godric, until I read Omnivore's comment. Took the 3 peasant huts, proceeded with Zehir to immediately bypass the Garrison by leaping over trees near peasant huts, took the first town and gold mine and built it as much as possible with limited resources (conscripts/archers/griffins). The enemy is weak but will attack, usually leaving before doing too much to Zehir's growing army. Then when strong enough, take town 9 on map (only one built up in my scenario) and go to town (haha) with improved units. Other towns/heroes laughably easy after that. Rutger came wandering up (dazed from events I presume) with 1 conscript for example, after I had taken town 9! Then when all four towns yours, release Godric and level/skill up. BTW you can get 1 'extra' hero from a town to assist in defense of town 9 from the sea.
Edited on Fri, Jul 03 2015, 10:16 by Bravehome

[cjlee]

Playing this on Heroes Mod5.5.

Magnomagus has warned against people using his mod to replay the campaigns.

Using the mod on this map messes with the scripts. Instead of Haven towns, every town became a Necropolis. AI basically converted everything to their faction, but I couldn't convert back. All the armies and garrisons get messed up.

I could not finish on the first try where I used Zehir to conquer everything and everyone within the first few weeks. He hired nobody - merely used the free peasants and summons to win everything.

Then on my second try, I got a glimpse of Quantomas' mighty AI in progress. I'd spent the first month releasing Godric, and by the second month when we invaded the Teal AI territory, OMG! Every single town was built up (into a Necropolis). There were Legions of skeletons and swarms of liches. Apart from the first garrison, nobody else joined Godric. I think the scripting all got screwed so troops meant for us to hire, now got turned into Necro troops and all hired by AI.

And thanks to the superb AI, enemy heroes were scary strong. A random paladin that attacked me, had 800+ zombies and they were no laughing matter - she cast every kind of light magic spell on it, and my Zehir could not dispel or cast negative spells on anything due to ultra high magic resistance. You think Necropolis faction is weak? That's because you never see a Necromancer cast Light spells. One chop from these Zombies took down my Phoenix from 1650hp to 113hp. (luckily regeneration works on Phoenix). Although this particular battle involved a Haven Paladin, Heroes Mod 5.5 allows you to learn everything so Death Knights will be able to learn Mass Light Spells and run you over with mighty undeads.

This is probably the first time in my Heroes gaming career that I lost to some freaking Zombies and had to replay this battle.

Then when I saw the next castle, defended by Rutger and legions of skeletons, swarms of liches, zounds of vampires, etc, I knew I can't finish this map without cheating.

It was truly very interesting to replay the campaigns using H5.5 mod. But I'm done with the original campaign for now. I don't think I can finish. Time to explore the HoF campaign using the H5.5 mod. I'll post my experiences.

[Wheeler Dealer]

The Triumvirate, Heroic, Max 25

More challenging than I remembered from before. The tough early battles, I used Zehir with a stack of single, expendable creatures surrounding a stack of high hp creatures to absorb the damage. Phoenix, Arcane Armor and Resurrection were the core of the battle plan.

Here's my log:

Took the Rajas

Week1, gathered 66 peasants, headed underground, looking for Godric.

Week 2, Still looking for Godric.

Week 3, Rescued Godric.

Week 4, Almost done underground.

Week 5, Took Gryphon Hill. Godric can't beat Rutger in the open, but Rutger won't attack the castle (probably a good thing). I can't hire the heroes from the tavern. Is this a bug?

Week 6, Zehir defeated Rutger using 33 cavaliers and 6 Obsidian Gargoyles. Elaine invaded with another really tough army. Rutger was right behind her with a smaller army.

Week 7, Took Chillbury.

Week 8, Took the last 2 havens.

Week 9, met Findan. Took Inhumatio.

Week 12, Zehir and Godric reached L25.

Week 14,

Showdown: M4W2D5

Zehir had the best magic, so he only took the Ancient Treants, Unicorns and 5 stacks of sprites. All he had left was 12 ATs.

Godric took 38 Archangels and 44 Paladins, easy. Findan took all the shooters, a stack of Squires and 26 Archangels, also easy.

Never did quite understand how Markel was summoning all those annoying stacks of undead against Zehir. Seemed every time one of my units walked, undead sprung up.

Once one of my heroes initiated the challenge, it made no difference where the other two were at the time.