Sylvan Campaign Mission 5 - The Vampire Lord 5-5, 5:5 Guide
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Omega_Destroyer
- Round Table Hero
- Posts: 6939
- Joined: 28 Feb 2006
- Location: Corner of your Eye
Light magic is a good way to go. As Mirage just metioned, Mass Haste and Mass Righteous Might rip are a huge help, and Resurrection always helps. I find the Avenger skill is best set to Skeleton Archers, Spectral Dragons, and Specters, but that's just me. With the Elven Volley attack, my ranged units took out the archers before the battle started.
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Qurqirish Dragon
- Genie
- Posts: 1011
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
- Location: Flying the skies of Ohlam
I took this map slowly. My skills (which were all maxed out) were attack, luck, destructive magic, light magic (ressurrection helps keep those precious emerald dragons around after big battles!),and logistics.
I found that using my druids to replenish my hero's spell points was often better than fighting with them. With that +50% earth damage cloak, a multishot-implosions-imbued attack would cost 27 spell points, but really decimates the enemy.
Also, that "pre-battle" attack volley works wonders. I fought nicolai sometime in month 4 or 5. I had 700 master hunters and 300 elder druids. Between them and the favored enemy, I killed 4500 of the skeleton archers before my catapult even attacked the first time! My first regular volley from the hunters finished off the stack (which had one action that it used to kill 400 of my 1200 sprites), while the unicors and treants could pound senseless any creature that dared set foot outside the castle walls.
The magic spring near the last castle really heps if you plan on going the imbue arrow route. (imbued meteor shower on packed enemies is another favorite of mine
)
Too bad you can't imbue arrows with light magic- that "damage all necro/inferno units spell" would have been great to use!
I found that using my druids to replenish my hero's spell points was often better than fighting with them. With that +50% earth damage cloak, a multishot-implosions-imbued attack would cost 27 spell points, but really decimates the enemy.
Also, that "pre-battle" attack volley works wonders. I fought nicolai sometime in month 4 or 5. I had 700 master hunters and 300 elder druids. Between them and the favored enemy, I killed 4500 of the skeleton archers before my catapult even attacked the first time! My first regular volley from the hunters finished off the stack (which had one action that it used to kill 400 of my 1200 sprites), while the unicors and treants could pound senseless any creature that dared set foot outside the castle walls.
The magic spring near the last castle really heps if you plan on going the imbue arrow route. (imbued meteor shower on packed enemies is another favorite of mine
)Too bad you can't imbue arrows with light magic- that "damage all necro/inferno units spell" would have been great to use!
Hey guys - beat this map 5 minutes before leaving for work this morning - *whew* 
Just a quick walk-through / observations in case anyone down the road has problems with this one and does a search.
********SPOILERS/WALK-THROUGH (normal difficulty)**********
Firstly - as they say in the military, move like you have a purpose. I've found in most of the missions where I've had problems a large part of it has been because of me strolling along and taking my time. In that vein, Summon Critters is a godsend. Also, buy up extra heroes to ferry troops to and fro. Another trick, and this is one I should have used more, you don't need to have your main hero capture enemy mines. The opponent has already killed the neutrals, you just need to send someone over to claim them - and a little level 1 new hire is perfect for the job.
Okay, I tried re-loading a few times and nothing doing, Nicolai was too tough for me, so I restarted the mission. FYI - Findan was fine the way he was. Sure, it would have been easier had I not tried to go for the ultimate and therefore had a better mix of skills, but it was still doable. To catch up, he had attack, defense, luck, war machines and logistics +racial (avenger). Firstly, he visited the elf town closest to the initial garrison TWICE, that was it. First time was on the way out the garrison, second time was after trouncing that first set of dragons to the left of the seer's hut. Also, I'd recommend having your biggest creature building city be the city that is on the left side of the starting island (more on that later).
So - have your troops ferried to your guy, flag all mines on your starting island, and plan to be through the garrison sometime during week 2. After going through the first portal, run to the seer's hut, then clear the spectral dragon nest. You'll also probably get jumped by a necromancer somewhere around here. After clearing the nest, you can town portal back to your garrison city and save a bit of movement. While in town, set your favored enemies. I had three slots and chose skelly archers, wights, and spectral dragons. Archliches are also a good choice. Skelly archers should be Public Enemy #1, though - non-negotiable. Okay, back through the portal. This time hang a right, and grab that Necropolis. You don't really even have to defend it, I just grabbed it so I wouldn't have necromancer's spawning in my back yard.
Now, push to the portal at the north of this island, and gate underground. This should be roughly the start of week 3. Buy up all your critters in the town that's your army machine. If you followed my advice, it's the second one that's in your city queue, and it is now your closest city. Don't forget to ferry troops from one city to the next. Summon critters, and move. Head south, find the unicorn bow which is in an alcove guarded by Cerberus (cerberi?). If your hero build is at all similar to mine, this is CRUCIAL. Even if you made your Findan completely opposite, this bow will still make your life a LOT easier. If you aren't moving quickly enough, the enemy may already have it (this is what happened to me my first time around). As if those skelly archers need a boost
At this point, I cleared out the four garrisons holding the dwarven artifacts, hit a couple of random treasure piles that didn't require me to go out of my way(if you grab the two garrisons in the northwestern quadrant first, there's a portal in the westernmost corridor right near where you found the bow. This will zap you to the southeastern corner and save a few days travel time as it puts you near the last two garrisons guarding the artifacts), and then I town portaled again. I was in the southern part of the map at this point, so destination necropolis. Make sure you're ferrying your troops again - this time to the elf city closest the portal. I turned in the dwarf artifacts, got the phoenixes (dropped sprites), stepped just through the portal, summoned critters, and then back underground. Again, as soon as you portal underground, summon any troops you may have. As a note, you can keep the artifacts and just kill the spectral dragons that are revealed by the eye of the magi, or not even go after the artifacts. To get Nicolai to stay dead (and thus end the mission) you only need to turn in the dwarven artifacts for Phoenixes OR kill the dragons - not both. I chose the dwarven artifact route because it seemed quicker to me. As much of this mission seems time-critical, I'd recommend deciding whether you want to get the phoenixes or kick dragons in the bootie and stick with that plan - doing both accomplishes nothing but wasting time.
The portal to above ground is in the northeast quadrant of the map, so I made a bee-line there, taking the necropolis on the center island while en route. Right before portaling above ground, do a summon creatures if you need to. Portal. Now, keep an eye out for Nicolai. At this point I had roughly 250 master hunters, 20 dragons, 5 phoenixes, 50 unicorns, 35 treants. I also got jumped by Vladimir about two turns after arriving. The unicorn bow in conjunction with Avenger and Findan's special opening volley definitely puts a cramp in their style, though.
Keep an eye out for Nicolai - you *should* be having to chase him down at this point. If he's chasing you, that's probably not a good sign and may indicate that you've taken too long to start hunting him, thus allowing him to muster scary numbers of troops. At any rate, the portal to the northwestern island is in the southwestern quadrant. I stepped through that, and then saw Nicolai. He zipped by me sporting 30 skeletons (oh, teh fear!), and made a mad dash for that critter house that's revealed by the eye of the magi. This, I think, is where he gets a fair number of troops. After he visited that, he had a little over a week's growth, maybe two weeks worth, but he was also cornered. I pounced on him, kicked the hell out of him, and that was it - it was all over except for the cutscene ;-).
***************
Anyway - thank you to all who offered advice, especially the bit about the bow being where it is. And hopefully this may help somebody else who's going nuts :-)
Just a quick walk-through / observations in case anyone down the road has problems with this one and does a search.********SPOILERS/WALK-THROUGH (normal difficulty)**********
Firstly - as they say in the military, move like you have a purpose. I've found in most of the missions where I've had problems a large part of it has been because of me strolling along and taking my time. In that vein, Summon Critters is a godsend. Also, buy up extra heroes to ferry troops to and fro. Another trick, and this is one I should have used more, you don't need to have your main hero capture enemy mines. The opponent has already killed the neutrals, you just need to send someone over to claim them - and a little level 1 new hire is perfect for the job.
Okay, I tried re-loading a few times and nothing doing, Nicolai was too tough for me, so I restarted the mission. FYI - Findan was fine the way he was. Sure, it would have been easier had I not tried to go for the ultimate and therefore had a better mix of skills, but it was still doable. To catch up, he had attack, defense, luck, war machines and logistics +racial (avenger). Firstly, he visited the elf town closest to the initial garrison TWICE, that was it. First time was on the way out the garrison, second time was after trouncing that first set of dragons to the left of the seer's hut. Also, I'd recommend having your biggest creature building city be the city that is on the left side of the starting island (more on that later).
So - have your troops ferried to your guy, flag all mines on your starting island, and plan to be through the garrison sometime during week 2. After going through the first portal, run to the seer's hut, then clear the spectral dragon nest. You'll also probably get jumped by a necromancer somewhere around here. After clearing the nest, you can town portal back to your garrison city and save a bit of movement. While in town, set your favored enemies. I had three slots and chose skelly archers, wights, and spectral dragons. Archliches are also a good choice. Skelly archers should be Public Enemy #1, though - non-negotiable. Okay, back through the portal. This time hang a right, and grab that Necropolis. You don't really even have to defend it, I just grabbed it so I wouldn't have necromancer's spawning in my back yard.
Now, push to the portal at the north of this island, and gate underground. This should be roughly the start of week 3. Buy up all your critters in the town that's your army machine. If you followed my advice, it's the second one that's in your city queue, and it is now your closest city. Don't forget to ferry troops from one city to the next. Summon critters, and move. Head south, find the unicorn bow which is in an alcove guarded by Cerberus (cerberi?). If your hero build is at all similar to mine, this is CRUCIAL. Even if you made your Findan completely opposite, this bow will still make your life a LOT easier. If you aren't moving quickly enough, the enemy may already have it (this is what happened to me my first time around). As if those skelly archers need a boost
At this point, I cleared out the four garrisons holding the dwarven artifacts, hit a couple of random treasure piles that didn't require me to go out of my way(if you grab the two garrisons in the northwestern quadrant first, there's a portal in the westernmost corridor right near where you found the bow. This will zap you to the southeastern corner and save a few days travel time as it puts you near the last two garrisons guarding the artifacts), and then I town portaled again. I was in the southern part of the map at this point, so destination necropolis. Make sure you're ferrying your troops again - this time to the elf city closest the portal. I turned in the dwarf artifacts, got the phoenixes (dropped sprites), stepped just through the portal, summoned critters, and then back underground. Again, as soon as you portal underground, summon any troops you may have. As a note, you can keep the artifacts and just kill the spectral dragons that are revealed by the eye of the magi, or not even go after the artifacts. To get Nicolai to stay dead (and thus end the mission) you only need to turn in the dwarven artifacts for Phoenixes OR kill the dragons - not both. I chose the dwarven artifact route because it seemed quicker to me. As much of this mission seems time-critical, I'd recommend deciding whether you want to get the phoenixes or kick dragons in the bootie and stick with that plan - doing both accomplishes nothing but wasting time.
The portal to above ground is in the northeast quadrant of the map, so I made a bee-line there, taking the necropolis on the center island while en route. Right before portaling above ground, do a summon creatures if you need to. Portal. Now, keep an eye out for Nicolai. At this point I had roughly 250 master hunters, 20 dragons, 5 phoenixes, 50 unicorns, 35 treants. I also got jumped by Vladimir about two turns after arriving. The unicorn bow in conjunction with Avenger and Findan's special opening volley definitely puts a cramp in their style, though.
Keep an eye out for Nicolai - you *should* be having to chase him down at this point. If he's chasing you, that's probably not a good sign and may indicate that you've taken too long to start hunting him, thus allowing him to muster scary numbers of troops. At any rate, the portal to the northwestern island is in the southwestern quadrant. I stepped through that, and then saw Nicolai. He zipped by me sporting 30 skeletons (oh, teh fear!), and made a mad dash for that critter house that's revealed by the eye of the magi. This, I think, is where he gets a fair number of troops. After he visited that, he had a little over a week's growth, maybe two weeks worth, but he was also cornered. I pounced on him, kicked the hell out of him, and that was it - it was all over except for the cutscene ;-).
***************
Anyway - thank you to all who offered advice, especially the bit about the bow being where it is. And hopefully this may help somebody else who's going nuts :-)
Last edited by Arkali on 23 Jun 2006, 17:31, edited 5 times in total.
Thanks, QD :-) That's a good strategy, too. I tell you what, in hind-sight I am REALLY kicking myself for trying to go for the Ultimate Skill - I don't think it's possible with Findan (I could be wrong, though). I'm positive that life would have been much easier on that mission with a different skill set. 
Yepper. In looking over stuff - Findan is SOL re: Ultimate Skill. Damn tactics, anyway.
Anybody thinking about writing a "hint guide" for each campaign? Not a walkthrough, perse, just a little "Things to consider for this faction" type thing. And if so, definitely put "Findan can NOT, ever, never ever, get the ultimate ability. So don't even THINK about it..." ;-)
Anybody thinking about writing a "hint guide" for each campaign? Not a walkthrough, perse, just a little "Things to consider for this faction" type thing. And if so, definitely put "Findan can NOT, ever, never ever, get the ultimate ability. So don't even THINK about it..." ;-)
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cornellian
- Conscript
- Posts: 233
- Joined: 05 Jun 2006
I remember abusing summon phoenix in that last scenario but I could be wrong, my memory is hazy now..
As far as I can recall Phoenix alone didn't win the game against the very powerful armies of Nicolai by itself (not with spellpower ~15) but it always drew the Skellie Archer's fire and sometimes even survived for two turns, letting my hunters and druids rain death (no pun intended); and when you combine summoning with resurrection, the battles aren't that bad..
As far as I can recall Phoenix alone didn't win the game against the very powerful armies of Nicolai by itself (not with spellpower ~15) but it always drew the Skellie Archer's fire and sometimes even survived for two turns, letting my hunters and druids rain death (no pun intended); and when you combine summoning with resurrection, the battles aren't that bad..
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Qurqirish Dragon
- Genie
- Posts: 1011
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
- Location: Flying the skies of Ohlam
However, that will shatter your morale, and I would much prefer my hunters to get more extra attacks!Odolwa wrote:I would recommend replacing your Sprites with Skeleton Archers once you capture the first Necropolis town (sacrificing the Sprites into Skeletons).
They will be much more useful when you get the Unicorn Bow.
Of course, with raise dead the skeletons will last longer than the sprites with resurrection (since res. costs much more to cast)
Could be an interesting strategy.
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Bandobras Took
- Genie
- Posts: 1019
- Joined: 06 Jan 2006
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cornellian
- Conscript
- Posts: 233
- Joined: 05 Jun 2006
True, but in my experience the next thing the enemy always does is showing the 'girls' the way to go, in their poor case straight downArkali wrote:That is *so* true. But ya know - zounds of sprites doing a no-retaliation spray attack on 4 stacks is a sight to behold. There's been a couple of times it's happened and I've just been.... "Damn, girls. Way you go..."
..Yepper. They generally only get in one, maybe two licks, so you gotta make 'em good. Poor things. Comes from wearing no clothes... Same problem with the blood maidens for the dungeonscornellian wrote:True, but in my experience the next thing the enemy always does is showing the 'girls' the way to go, in their poor case straight downArkali wrote:That is *so* true. But ya know - zounds of sprites doing a no-retaliation spray attack on 4 stacks is a sight to behold. There's been a couple of times it's happened and I've just been.... "Damn, girls. Way you go..."
Sylvan Campgain-5 th mission
I have found the underground in this mission very frustrating. I have re-started this mission a few times. but somtimes I can't go places I had been before in one of my restarted sessions. I usually try to follow a path. I once got past that 1st underground Necro town(which I took possion of). but couldnt go much further. Is this a bug or maybe something I'm doing wrong. I always look for the curser to change to a horse icon
For this battle, I frought Nicolai for at least 5 times before clearing it. By the time I get to him, he has over 7000 skelton archers (not that scary because of Findan's specialty), 1700 plauge zombies and hundreds of vampires, 1000 of ghosts and 170 wriaths, 200 over archlices and 70 over spectral dragons..
I have over 300 spirites, 300 over war dances, 600 over master hunters, 300 elder druids, 250 war unicorns, 130 ancient trents and ard 50 emerald dragons
I already have many undead towns by there and used one of the heroes (the male one) and give him tons of undead troops (still pitiful if you compared with Nicolai), I attacked Nicolai with him and only managed to kill all the spectral dragons down to 20 over (with the luck thingy)..
Then, I will have to attack him with Findan. Nicolai has that luck penatly artifact and I always have bad luck when attacking him. Not only that, Nicolai always cast phantom forces on his troops and the troops always get to attack next, sometimes 2 times before Findan got a chance to cast meteor shower (expert destructive magic) and dispel them. This always make me lost all my master hunters and elder druids. So I went back to get the golden bow and finally managed to win and still have all my master hunter and elder druids intact by making sure I'm surronded all the melee troops (especially those ghosts) by blocking their path...
the toughest battle so far, the last battles are a joke if you compared them with this one..
I have over 300 spirites, 300 over war dances, 600 over master hunters, 300 elder druids, 250 war unicorns, 130 ancient trents and ard 50 emerald dragons
I already have many undead towns by there and used one of the heroes (the male one) and give him tons of undead troops (still pitiful if you compared with Nicolai), I attacked Nicolai with him and only managed to kill all the spectral dragons down to 20 over (with the luck thingy)..
Then, I will have to attack him with Findan. Nicolai has that luck penatly artifact and I always have bad luck when attacking him. Not only that, Nicolai always cast phantom forces on his troops and the troops always get to attack next, sometimes 2 times before Findan got a chance to cast meteor shower (expert destructive magic) and dispel them. This always make me lost all my master hunters and elder druids. So I went back to get the golden bow and finally managed to win and still have all my master hunter and elder druids intact by making sure I'm surronded all the melee troops (especially those ghosts) by blocking their path...
the toughest battle so far, the last battles are a joke if you compared them with this one..
Since my main hero had bad skills (Learning ugh), I chose to fight with my secondary hero (male elf hero which comes from previous scenario), who has Nature's Luck not to mention all the other skills maxed by now.
I did complete the Phoenix quest, and beat up Nicolai (which was tough fight, and he was coming after me), but didn't win the game. The campaign didn't end however. It complained of night ever-lasting. Do this have to do with that I didn't kill Nicolai with main hero or didn't have Phoenixes remaining after battle?
My battle tactics was to take out Liches first and then disrupt Skeleton Archers with Phoenixes (not attacking anything), while Treant immobilized the Dragons, Wraiths and Spectres to the middle (with defend aka "take roots"). My hero just cast Mass Haste, to which Nicolai responded with Mass Slow until I ran out of spellpoints, which was very effective way to disrupt Nicolai from casting anything else. I think I had Avenger on Skeleton Archers, Spectral Dragons and Wraiths.
Anyway, I haven't completed this yet thanks to possible bug or hindsight from map maker.
Campaigns in general are great by the way. Lots of variety in scenarios compared to earlier games.
I did complete the Phoenix quest, and beat up Nicolai (which was tough fight, and he was coming after me), but didn't win the game. The campaign didn't end however. It complained of night ever-lasting. Do this have to do with that I didn't kill Nicolai with main hero or didn't have Phoenixes remaining after battle?
My battle tactics was to take out Liches first and then disrupt Skeleton Archers with Phoenixes (not attacking anything), while Treant immobilized the Dragons, Wraiths and Spectres to the middle (with defend aka "take roots"). My hero just cast Mass Haste, to which Nicolai responded with Mass Slow until I ran out of spellpoints, which was very effective way to disrupt Nicolai from casting anything else. I think I had Avenger on Skeleton Archers, Spectral Dragons and Wraiths.
Anyway, I haven't completed this yet thanks to possible bug or hindsight from map maker.
Campaigns in general are great by the way. Lots of variety in scenarios compared to earlier games.
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Dark Matter
- Leprechaun
- Posts: 18
- Joined: 28 Jun 2006
Where can I see how many spectral-dragons are still on the map?
Ich checked every inch and noch dragons are present. What now?
There are still neutral undead (wrights, an army) on the map but I do not need to kill them.
I defeated Nicolai several time and nothing happend.
Oh yeah. I dismissed the phoenix, too weak.
Ich checked every inch and noch dragons are present. What now?
There are still neutral undead (wrights, an army) on the map but I do not need to kill them.
I defeated Nicolai several time and nothing happend.
Oh yeah. I dismissed the phoenix, too weak.
--Under constuction--
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Gaidal Cain
- Round Table Hero
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