Heroes I: best high scores

[Dstr]

I've just finished all H1 campaigns and that's what I got:

- Lord Ironfist: 301 - Phoenix (I know I could improve here but no patience anymore )
- Lord Slayer: 214 - Dragon (a few days also here - same)
- Queen Lamanda: 194 - Dragon (and I'm very proud of, I think there are only very few less days possible)
- Lord Alamar: 181 - Dragon, this score is just great, almost perfect. Less than 7 months for an eight scenarios campaign!

What about you?

I'll try also several standard maps and tell you the respective scores.

[Metathron]

Those look like great scores! I only ever finished the sorceress campaign (they're all practically the same, anyway), but I don't remember the score.

[Dstr]

thank you! after I realized (as you stated it) they were the same I tried to improve the way of playing and as to the last 2 campaigns I played them almost flawless

[Pitsu]

Never tried a speedrun on H1 campaign before. After your post gave a try to Lord Alamar. As with all maps that are not designed for speedrunning your speed depends a lot on luck. And if there are no restrictions for saving and reloading one can achieve scores impossible in "normal" game. I got 171 this time, but about a month should be possible to cut by a more patient person than me. Currently lacking imagination how it could be done faster than about 120 days, but knowing what the experts are capable of, such scores may be possible too.

[Dstr]

I sacrificed this Sunday and that's what I got after replaying only the last 3 scenarios: 163 you may be right about the possibility to getting to 140 days (if you're lucky enough to get some boots), but 120 it's really impossible.
because:
I ran continuously into the heart of the opponent, didn't even stop for a gazebo, luck or gold mine...The 2nd scenario or 3rd (where you had to dig for an artifact) I went directly to it after discovering all obelisks. I reloaded and went to the spot. I did the 1st scenario it in 8 days...
I really can't see where one could improve. and btw if we did it in 160-170 days (less than 6 months for 8 scenarios), aren't we experts?... given the Queen Lamada's castle is so far away and so it's Ironfist's!

[Dstr]

Jolly Roger (it's an impossible mission) on Impossible, 3 genius computers, king of the hill selected there are the most difficult settings.
I had a score of 193 (Dragon) - I'm very happy with it. Thank you!

[Pitsu]

Lets see campaign map by map (warlock campaign):

map1 (capture town): can be finished on day 2, just walk to the destination and are good on battlefield

map2 (archipelago): Took 19 days from me, but had to hunt down the last enemy. With more favorable movement of AI heroes this map can be done several days faster.

map3 (dig artifact): 21 days with defeating one enemy, visiting half of obelisks and got the artifact on first dig. With no limits on reloading one can go straight to the spot and dig it up in perhaps 10 days. If you know the map, even 2-3 obelisks may be enough to identify approximate region and then send as many heroes as possible to dig there.

map4 (a open map with 3 enemies). 17 days, but i split the genies and nomads into two armies and left the third enemy for later. It should be possible to go straight for all of them and again, depending on whether a AI hero hides himself in a faraway corner or not, this map can be done faster than 17 days.

map5 (knight). On testing purposes i did here something which is not possible in a normal game, but is fine for speedrun. I did check from a save which spells will be available in which town. With dimension door one can jump directly to final castle without going by boat. 19 days it took from me to complete the map, but i am pretty sure someone with more patience with reloading can do it a few days faster.

map6 (barbarian). 27 days it took, and i felt like out of ideas. Used hit and run a lot and tried antimagic-storm combo but Slayer armies are strong from the start and I found no weakness to exploit. Maybe a smarter one can solve this map much faster.

map7 (sorceress). 31 days. Started to get tired, so i did not restart until optimal map setup. Again with dimension door one could have jumped fast to the final castle. Although as with Slayer map, the final boss has good armies right from start. In any case, with better luck with dimension door, cutting a week should be easy.

map8 (king of hill, fight 20 dragons). 35 days for me, but after first opponent was defeated i never reloaded anymore, defeated all opponents and spent lot of time wandering around. In final battle my casualties were minimal and should have finished the map week or two faster. Maybe it is possible to get a dimension door fast and then by spamming heroes take the final castle much faster.

Whether or not 120 days is possible depends much on last three maps - if there is something that i missed and the average for the last three maps could be 20 days per map, then you have it.

[Pitsu]

Jolly Roger (it's an impossible mission) on Impossible, 3 genius computers, king of the hill selected there are the most difficult settings.
I had a score of 193 (Dragon) - I'm very happy with it. Thank you!

A Dragon ranking is great indeed. Now, of course i had to take the challenge and try to beat your score. 32 days with score 252. The last AI hero was lost on sea and without him it could have been 7 days faster.

[Dstr]

32 days? with the most difficult settings (impossible etc)?
hmmm...they came with a lot of spells on me...
what castle did u have?
how did you do it??

ok, don't tell me pls!

[Pitsu]

There was really no secret involved, but below it is:

Sorceress castle. 2 sorc and one barb hero for starters, barb, of course, as main. As always, luck is needed to be fast. Without any reloading 3 out of 5 first encountered stacks joined (ca 60 rogues and 20 orcs). Went straight to SW castle and took it on day1 week 2. At the same time a secondary had taken wood mill and third hero sailed for genies. Main hero continued to NW with 4 elfs, 60 rogues, 8 sprites, 8 griffins and 10 gargoyles. On the way 20 gars and about 16 elves joined (had to fight some monsters too of course). At the same time a strong knight attacked my starting town, which was defended by genies and minor stack from town and hired heroes. After NW town was taken with heavy casualties (lost almost all), there was a break in offense and some town defense battles. South seemed calm, so on third week hydras from SW and genies/elfs from SE were moved northwards, had some battles and casualties on the way. Main hero moved E, assuming that no enemy will reach NW town before new weekly reinforcements. Since last enemy had split his armies to many heroes rather than having one strong hero sitting in castle, most difficult was not to let anyone escape (failed here).

[Dstr]

There was really no secret involved, but below it is:

Sorceress castle. 2 sorc and one barb hero for starters, barb, of course, as main. As always, luck is needed to be fast. Without any reloading 3 out of 5 first encountered stacks joined (ca 60 rogues and 20 orcs). Went straight to SW castle and took it on day1 week 2. At the same time a secondary had taken wood mill and third hero sailed for genies. Main hero continued to NW with 4 elfs, 60 rogues, 8 sprites, 8 griffins and 10 gargoyles. On the way 20 gars and about 16 elves joined (had to fight some monsters too of course). At the same time a strong knight attacked my starting town, which was defended by genies and minor stack from town and hired heroes. After NW town was taken with heavy casualties (lost almost all), there was a break in offense and some town defense battles. South seemed calm, so on third week hydras from SW and genies/elfs from SE were moved northwards, had some battles and casualties on the way. Main hero moved E, assuming that no enemy will reach NW town before new weekly reinforcements. Since last enemy had split his armies to many heroes rather than having one strong hero sitting in castle, most difficult was not to let anyone escape (failed here).

congrats man! i've been a warlock and was sailing 2nd week because no wood found except the sawmill...I took the genies and nomads from E and N and took the NW barbarian castle (their main force) which already got cyclops... the sorceress created dragons too and took my starting town after some tough battles...in the meantime i took also the NE sorceress town. The problem was the SW town (my starting one) created then black dragons and kept casting armageddon over my troops...I hardly took that town and after that it's been a piece of cake. It took me about 2 month and a half...

I think you either need a huge amount luck or you know a secret how to force the neutrals join you! : )) could you share it?

[Pitsu]

I do not know the exact mechanics of joining in H1. It certainly helps to have strong army and the same units (maybe same faction matters too like in later homm games). It may be that joining never triggers if you have no free slot/same unit for accepting the joiners.

[Dstr]

all right, thanks man for the idea.
i'm also pretty good at H2, H3 (I have some nice ranking records in H3)and H5 (finished all campaigns, including the add-ons on Impossible-Heroic and played a lot on Multiplayer the H2, H3 and H5). Also H4, but I played very little on multiplayer as to H4.
Maybe we fight sometimes...Do you have an Yahoo ID?...

[Dstr]

just got a 231 for Jolly Roger. same here, AI heroes wandering over the seas. lol. not anymore patience.
nobody joined... did it with the help of genies.

tx for the challenge, it's been fun

[Dstr]

I just couldn't resist myself:

LOL

12 days, 279, for Jolly Roger!!!
ain't that good!!!!!

[Pitsu]

12 days, 279, for Jolly Roger!!!
ain't that good!!!!!

Wow, that is what i call pretty much unbelievable. Congratulations!

[Dstr]

thanks man, you understand now the shock I had when you first told me your score

[grobblewobble]

Wow... That's awesome.

Imho Jolly Roger is wrongly ranked, though. The map "Two If By Sea" is much more difficult in my experience. And that map is officially ranked "rough" instead of "impossible"..

I managed Jolly Roger on Expert before (though not as lightning fast as you guys), but I never managed Two If By Sea on any more difficult setting than Easy (although I did set the AI to "genius" I think, but that hardly matters, at least I never noticed any difference between AI settings).

So anyone up for the challenge to beat Two if by Sea on expert?

edit: I started a replay of the campaign (as the sorceress) to see if I can do it faster (but without reloading). I managed to beat scenario 1 in 2 days, but the second one took me way too long, some 40 days. Any tips on how to do it faster? My game went something like this:

week 1: hired 3 extra heroes, combined starting armies, flagged mines and built dwellings.
week 2: loaded armies on main hero (a knight, there was no barb for hire) and took portal, landed on barbarian island. Captured his city and defended it with barb units. Main hero took portal again.

And there it went wrong. The barbarian had a hero left with genies and he recaptured his town. Looking back, my main hero was walking around with dwarves which slowed him down, maybe I should have left them home.. I probably also kept all my units on my main hero for too long, so I had only one real army for a long time.

Edit2: third map (dig artifact) was 13 days, first try no reloading. I did have the advantage that I know roughly what the map looks like (where the different terrain types are). I think I read 4-5 obelisks. The location was not too far away, but not that close either. I think this map is very luck dependent? You could have the artifact located right next to your starting town. In fact, if you don't mind reloading you could probably ensure that.

Edit3: (sorry for all the spam) well, 4th map was nerve wrecking but I still made it faster than I ever managed before, in 21 days. In the second week my main force had just captured the barbarian when the warlock came my way with "few" genies. Thankfully there were only 2 of them.. that was close.

[Pitsu]

So anyone up for the challenge to beat Two if by Sea on expert?

The topic was up years ago. As much as i remember, there is no safe way to beat this map on expert. With reloading and luck i am sure it has been done.

I managed to beat scenario 1 in 2 days, but the second one took me way too long, some 40 days. Any tips on how to do it faster?

One thing is to reload until a nearby artifact is nomads boots. Second is to use teleporters not ships. For warlock hydras are good, maybe others should target warlocks first. Steal towns and defend with hydras.

[grobblewobble]

Thanks for the tips. I used only teleporters as you said. Is there a difference between the nomad boots and the travellers boots / true compass?

I think there was something else wrong with my strategy, too. Maybe I should open a multiple front attack earlier. I was shocked to have the genies used that early against me, too. If I'm not mistaken all the genie lamps are guarded by ghosts. How did the AI not get his kobolds turned into a gazillion ghosts?