H5 Quiz: Round #1

[Kalah]

Our resident quizmaster <b>Maciek</b> has put together a new quiz, this time for <i>Heroes V</i>. The first question is entitled "Chopping trees".



<i>A level one Demon Lord has been told to chop down 999 trees. It seems to have someting to do with Deleb and her experiments to improve Ballistas.

Bad news: The only trees nearby are hiding in a fortified castle.

Good news: There is some snow on the way there! What helpful object could possibly hide beneath?</i>

Open <a href="/admin/kalah/Trees.h5m">this map</a> in the map editor and put one object in the snowy area. It should help you take the castle.

- Your hero's starting Magic Insight has been switched to Arcane Training. She has also traded her starting army for 5 unupgraded Liches (whoever traded with her must really like Succubuses).

- Starting spells: Teleport, Fire Trap and Raise Dead.

- The starting artifact (if you choose it) is always the Tunic of Carved Flesh.

- Your town has all unupgraded dweelings plus a level 1 mage guild (Slow, Haste, Stone Spikes) built. The only other enabled building is mage guild 2 (Decay, Arcane Crystal, Regeneration).

- There's also an unguarded Hill Fort and a Magic Well nearby.

<center><img src="/images/news/maciek1_trees.jpg"></center>

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1336432823

[cjlee]

Maciek is really freaking smart. I can't see how to beat this, so let me list the sub-problems we have to solve:



1) The tunic (+ spell power), arcane training and raise dead seem to be very important. You need your liches to survive to win this battle.



2) The battle can't last forever. Not as if you get 7 stacks and can kill off 1 stack with ease every time for your hero to recharge his mana.



3) You're level 1. No puppetmaster or frenzy to get the trees to kill each other. Fire trap is at the level where you can only set 2 traps for 50 damage or something miserable.



4) Apart from the fortified castle inflicting lots of damage, I am also likely to get rushed by the 999 trees since they have no ranged.



5) What object can be so Uber as to turn the tide? Even if you get a scroll of puppet master under the snow, you won't haev the mana to keep casting until at least 1 stack is dead. Rmemeber, you also need to revive your liches.



6) This is a demon lord; not necromancer. no recharging mana in-battle until there is a corpse to feed on, and even then as a level 1, you don't have that ability.



The only 'object' I can think of is 1000 titans. Sigh!

[Maciek]

Thanks, cjlee. Your list is missing one crucial point. You will probably catch it if you reread the question or launch the game and start the map. Also, I'm not sure if that 1000 Titans would like to be called an 'object'. How do you get around this little problem?



By the way, you've probably seen the trick I had in mind when making this question.

[cjlee]

There are many artifacts that would improve your chances, but not sufficient to turn the game.

Hmm…

Since your castle is near the enemy with a well on the way there, you could keep hiring your hero. Theoretically he could kill the enemy after many turns. But that would probably not make good use of the liches.

Unless I am to assume your inferno castle is filled with years’ worth of demon production, whatever inferno troops I can hire won’t turn the tide.

It is possible that you can use the hill fort to get Archliches to decay and Cerberi to make attacks without retaliation, but you would need a lot of them because puppet master runs out eventually and you’re limited by mana.

In heroes V, unlike Heroes IV’s mantises or Heroes III’s dendroid guards, Treant roots don’t bind forever. So you MUST have enough mana to keep casting frenzy/ puppet master, and there’s no way a level 1 hero could do it enough to kill 999 trees. Remember, these are Trees; they’re incredibly resilient.

You could use Arcane crystal to block the trees from coming out since on v1.60 they no longer attack summons, but I doubt it would do that much good. You’ll still take forever to kill the trees.

Ring of Sar Issues? Doesn’t seem enough.

Unicorn horn bow? Not enough damage from a few liches.

Sandro’s Cloak is normally a game turner, but not in this case. Pendant of Conflux is useless.

Since you’re using liches, might as well use Skull of Markal. But it doesn’t change the need to hit and run – therefore you can only use liches once.

Magic Wand? Sure, you could keep using Frenzy/ Puppet Master and recharging at your mage guild. But that means chopping a few trees each time, fleeing, then coming back and chopping a few more trees. Don’t sound like a smart strategy.

[Maciek]

Just to clarify a few things:

The whole quiz is for TotE, so game version is 3.1. Intended game difficulty: Heroic.

The trees are in 1 stack.

There is no tavern in your town.

There is 1 week worth of unupgraded Inferno troops for hire in your town.

[Zenithale]

By "put one object", do you mean map object or only artifact? I put a Sphinx, but you can probably do it even without any bonus. Well, I have the idea but I'm not patient enough to kill 999 upgraded treants with just Jezebeth's attacks, even with level 10 + Excruating strike.
So the idea is of course to abuse the AI with the Arcane crystals. You just need to gate few Imps in the corner then you cast 2 Arcane crystals to block the path for the Treants. They will only wait till the end of the game. So you just need enough troops to survive against the 3 arrow towers before your catapult destroy them.

[Maciek]

Common meaning of 'an object', so artifacts and buildings are in.

In case of Sphinx, why not make it level 40? Still, my favourite solution involves an artifact and doesn't require a lot of patience.

[Zenithale]

>>>In case of Sphinx, why not make it level 40?

I just didn't edit it, so I played with the random questions and rewards. Most of the time you can get level 10.

You can pick the Horn of plenty or a sawmill, so you don't need to kill the Treants.

[Maciek]

You can pick the Horn of plenty or a sawmill, so you don't need to kill the Treants.

I like this solution better then my original one ... Even though it doesn't work when you try it, because there is a tavern in the enemy town.

[Zenithale]

Another solution, requiring a lot of luck. Put a Dragon Utopia, win with only few lose and get the Tome of Dark Magic + some boost in Magic Power and Knowledge (if you allow to edit the Utopia we can get what we want).
Then cast Puppet Master + 5x Raise dead (Liches can do it as well if you don't have enough Mana) on Treants. Like this they will have just 1 HP each, and thus they will die very quickly.
Edit : In fact the Tome of Dark is maybe enough. Take it with 5x1 Liche cardinal + 1 Archdevil + 5 Succubus or 2 Pitlords.

Edit : One more: put a pile of wood and edit it (999 units).

[Maciek]

Puppet Master+5xRaise Dead from Lich Masters is indeed the trick I had in mind and a Book of Dark/Scroll of PM is enough. Just some small problems left for you to solve: you can't cast Raise Dead unless at least one creature from the stack is dead and PM last only 0.6 turn. Oh, and after 5xRD they will have 2hp each and not 1.
Edited on Sun, May 13 2012, 16:11 by Maciek

[Zenithale]

In fact the Book is useless on your map, when I tried it I get 0 new spell (probably because they are unchecked in the Map Properties). Instead of the Scroll we can pick the Wand: 6 charges and PM last 2 turns.

After the 5x RaiseDead we just need 1 attack of PitFiend to kill all Treants!


Here is my Replay : http://speedy.sh/f495t/H5-Quiz.sav

[Maciek]

Good job, Zenithale!

I'm not sure why did the Book work the first time I tried it. That PM ban must be a mistake. I didn't know that there is a wand with PM. 2 turns and 6 charges is a lot. Anyways, with a single cast and 0.6 turn you need the Liches to wait before hero action, so that they all act within less than 0.6 turn from hero. I also used an Arch Demon to pull the Treants out of castle, so I don't care if they rush out or not. I also used Regeneration to keep the Arch Demon alive while it's standing in the moat and taking hits from towers and waiting for next action, which is: pull Treants out. Liches also needed to Raise the Pit Spawn at the end.



Other possible solutions include: a prison with a strong hero or a garrison filled with friendly troops. I also like the solution with 999 wood.
Edited on Sun, May 13 2012, 18:34 by Maciek

[Kalah]

Here is the answer provided:

"The object is a Book of Dark Magic. There's not enough gold to hire the second Pit if you want to upgrade everything. The battle is in a replay:
Archdemon pulls the trees outside in case they didn't want to leave the castle. Pit Spawn hits the Trees while the Lich Masters wait. Then the hero casts Puppet Master, which lasts more than half a turn. Liches can now all raise the Trees to decrease their maximum health to 2. Now, raise the Spawn if you need to and finish off the Trees.
I guess a Refugee Camp with some kind of Vampires might also work. You would upgrade the Vampires to Lords at the Hill Fort and then Hit-and-Run the Trees and hope to survive until your Catapult destroys all the towers. But then the battle would take a lot of time.
Other possible solutions: a prison with a strong hero, a quest hut that gives You 4382 Black Dragons for free, a red (your colour) garrison with 999 Angels, 2 Blood Furies, a Succubus Seducer and a happy Mage, which you can take out of that garrison and add to your army, or a portal that would lead to some helpful place."

[cjlee]

beg your pardon, Kalah



But how do I load your replay? I have TOTE 3.1 and H5 1.60; I just don't know which folder to put and also which menu items to choose when looking for the replay.

[Maciek]

Both replays are 3.1. If you have Win7(I think it works the same for Vista), put it in "Libraries/Documents/My Gemes/Heroes of Might and Magic - Tribes of the East/profiles/(your profile name)/Replays"(Create "Replays" folder if it doesn't exist). Alternatively, make some replay with a distinct name and search for it. To view it, choose Options->Replays->Saved Battles. Yeah, not very intuitive, I know.



I apologise for that PM ban - Dark Book mistake.