Heroes IV: help with campaigns

[Paulus1]

For some time now, I've been playing Heroes IV again, trying to beat all campaigns on impossible.

I'm down to having 2 left, Waerjak (might, std.) and Dogwoggle (might, TGS exp.). Both have in common, that I'm starting without any towns and can only get creatures from one/a few beserkers huts.

I'm just not able to gather enough forces to break down the neutral stacks around the map, much less conquer any of the towns.

If anybody has any advice on either of the campaigns, it would be appreciated.

[wimfrits]

For some time now, I've been playing Heroes IV again, trying to beat all campaigns on impossible.

I'm down to having 2 left, Waerjak (might, std.) and Dogwoggle (might, TGS exp.). Both have in common, that I'm starting without any towns and can only get creatures from one/a few beserkers huts.

I'm just not able to gather enough forces to break down the neutral stacks around the map, much less conquer any of the towns.

If anybody has any advice on either of the campaigns, it would be appreciated.

Those are by far the most difficult of original campaigns. I know there are several useful topics on the old RT that cover both of them.

As for what I remember:
Waerjak: definately the most difficult of the 2. The entire part from start to the cart of ore needs to managed carefully.
- There are 2 skeletons of which at least one should give a useful item. (ring of health/elven chainmail/....)
- I thought there was a medice wagon. A potion of cold is very very useful in the fight for the cart. Not necessary though.
- berserkers are the key to victory here imo. Preserve them at the cost of centaurs. Use the blokcing/releasing trick.
- getting nomads is costly and not worth the effort.
- Split off units to stay at the berserker dwellings (and if you want: centaur dwellings). Recruit as much as possible at the start of the second or third week and head for the cart. I'm not sure whether it was the second or the third week.
- focus on combat first. Waerjak will be used to soak up attack and retaliation. Berserkers will do the actual damage.

Dogwoggle : what I did was
- split off 2 or 3 berserkers to gather resources/items. If possible, let them meet up with D later. Important is that they gather enough resources to enable D to recruit a second hero and later sufficient harpies.
- buy a necromancer in the tavern on day 1
- don't send Dogwoggle to the southern town!! The neutral guardians guarding it too strong.
- head for the AI town in the northeast straight away.
- just southwest of the AI town is a harpy dwelling.
- here is a tricky part. Either the AI has recruited a bunch of nomads (or other creatures, don't know), or it hasn't. Something triggers this behavior. Not sure what. If the AI is reinforced, the fight against the town is extremely tough. You'll need the necromancer to poison the (tough) hero and possibly other units as well. The harpies should focus on the tough hero and be preserved as much as possible. Fight will be won with several harpies left.
If the army is not reinforced, fight is a lot easier. You probably don't need the necromancer in that case, but it does help to have one.

[Paulus1]

Thanks for the advice. It helped me get a bit momentum in the Dogwoggle campaign.

I had considered going after red player at once, but thought initially, that he was just too strong. I was lucky catching him off guard, with half his troops in town, but the heroes with the rest of the troops out of town.

Do you have any idea how long time I have to secure the area, before the two other AI players come knocking??

[wimfrits]

Do you have any idea how long time I have to secure the area, before the two other AI players come knocking??

Been a long time since I played that mission, but I think time is not a big problem and it is possible to secure the most if not all of the area before being interrupted. You can always flee back to town if necessary.

On the other hand, there are some free skills to be bought in the opponent's territory. If you want to develop D efficiently, you could consider heading that way before securing the area.