Last map of ranger campaign

[NAG]

Been a while since my last post here....been playing a lot

I managed to make it to the last map of the ranger campaign....without the ressurection spell. I am regretting now that I'm so stubborn.
So the final map is impossible to do. Those skeleton archers wipe out all my forces in no time (6k skeletons against 250 of my archers). I do have 3 out of 4 dwarven items already.
I am hoping one of you has a saved game of or the beginning of this map or the end of this map where one has almost won.
My problem is only that I am still playing without any patches (I'm on dial up so I don't want to download big patches). Or is that not a problem?

send me a pm if you can and want to help me.
cheers

[wayne]

I suspect I took too long to confront Nicolai (towards end of six month). I ended up gathering Necropolis troops and using a secondary hero to confront Nicolai first to weaken him. The skeleton archers are not that big a problem, I think Findan's ability will allow you to take out around 2k of the Skeleton Archers when the fight begins. Another round of shots from your Druid Elders and Master Hunters will weaken them considerably.

I did it without Resurrection and on 1.0 Normal difficulty. I think you need to complete the Dwarvern artifacts to prevent Nicolai from respawning. Anyway, ask more questions if you need further help. Oh, and do check out the walkthrough:

https://www.celestialheavens.com/119

[TomVenom]

I'm so stupid that I forgot to take the Light Magic Skill for Findan.
I played quite easily the first four scenarii without it, but once I attacked the fifth scenario, I had to much difficulty to beat the Necro.

I've been obliged to replay the whole Ranger campaign from the beginning...

[wayne]

I played Findan without any Magic, it can be done, at least for normal. I remember trying to abuse his ability by learning War Machines, Archery and Battle Frenzy.


I do not use PMs on forums, sorry, since I do not read my own PMs on forums.

[NAG]

I am not even talking about Nicolai. I am already having trouble with the other necro heroes

[Mytical]

if desperate...since you have 1.0 if you want to use cheat codes there is one to give you all the spells. However, the key here is to put skellies on your special ability (the ranger one). While the other creatures are rough those archers are a pain. Kill some neutral stacks or something and choose skellie archers as your chosen enemy (don't worry about regular skellies those you can kill before they get to you without the skill). If you can, choose Lich and either vamp (lord) or the dragons. Rain of arrows (after imbuing a spell or alone) can then hit some of his most dangerous troops at once. As much as it will smart, avoid wasting attacks on zombies until no longer possible, they move so slow they are a non-threat. Another tactic is to put your flyers on the top row (especially dragons) they can reach those archers and keep them from firing).

[NAG]

if desperate...since you have 1.0 if you want to use cheat codes there is one to give you all the spells. However, the key here is to put skellies on your special ability (the ranger one). While the other creatures are rough those archers are a pain. Kill some neutral stacks or something and choose skellie archers as your chosen enemy (don't worry about regular skellies those you can kill before they get to you without the skill). If you can, choose Lich and either vamp (lord) or the dragons. Rain of arrows (after imbuing a spell or alone) can then hit some of his most dangerous troops at once. As much as it will smart, avoid wasting attacks on zombies until no longer possible, they move so slow they are a non-threat. Another tactic is to put your flyers on the top row (especially dragons) they can reach those archers and keep them from firing).

The flyers thing is a good option. Will try that.
But cheating???? *shivers* I prefer a saved game. I one cheats once then (s)he will do it again. And why bother playing the game then?

[wayne]

It might be more helpful if you could provide more information on your situation, like month and week, how many towns you have and current army size.


And I had to keep a stack of 5 Phoenix, after getting the 4 dwarven artifacts, to prevent Nicolai from respawning, which effectively meant I fought him with only 6 useful stacks of creatures.

[Mytical]

@ wayne, if you kill all the special spectre dragons on the map, he will not respawn either (and that means you don't have to waste a slot on those blasted phoenix .

[AngelEyes]

Yeah, don't go for the pheonixes; the artifacts are a LOT more valuable.

I kinda lucked out on this map too. The AI gave 80% of its army to Nicoli's cronies, leaving him with a rather weak force. I just avoided his henchmen and defeated Nicoli's army rather easily.

[wayne]

I know about the alternate way, i.e. killing the Spectral Dragons, but I think finding the stacks deep in Necromancer territory is quite risky. Moreover, I get hunted by Nicolai and his buddies as soon as I exit the Subterranian Gate...

[NAG]

*insert shame emoticon* ok..I did it, I used a cheat and gave 2 of my heroes the ressurection spell. Am avoiding encounters now cause I took away the lesser necro heroes and only have armies with >15k skeleton archers in it left. Got all dwarven items and 1 pack of spectral dragons to go. Got 5 cities now so the gold income is ok as well.....form here it should all go as planned....sort of

[Mytical]

Remember to make sure any town near enough that you have captured is fully stocked by creatures it supplies. This makes them kill those units (since you most likely are not using them) to regain the city, and also prevents them from buying more until the start of next week. Send 'suicide' heroes against nicky boy to keep his army down and let you know how many you will be fighting. Target his skellies specifically with these, and use fast units to cover the distance to keep them from firing. Use magic like armageddon if you have it, especially if you have 1 very quick unit only. Start building you up a couple of nicky magic baiters..and right before your main guy goes in, send them in to get him low on mana. Send all your necro troops if you don't want to waste the good ones. Make sure to have several weeks worth of troops; however, and realize you will be helping his skelly archers (in the end). Still if you can get him to waste all his mana, then his few extra skelly archers are not quite so bad. An advantage with 1.3 is the raise dead 'nerf'. Since that means that he can't just keep raising his undead bad boys every time you kill a few.

[wayne]

Actually, I found it easier to target a specific stack like Wraiths instead when weakening Nicolai, since the skeleton archers are well protected. I just gathered all my Necropolis units, dumped them on a secondary hero and focused my fire on a couple of melee stacks...

[dragonn]

Well, I've finished the campaign a couple of days ago. I had some luck because Nicolai had a weak army because he gave everything to Vladmir which had about 6k skeletons 80 Wrights etc... and Nicolai was left alone with, a weak force. But it wasn't easy to get there, I faced Nicolai before and he had 4k skeletons back then. he attacked my quite early. I won but he wiped out my whole force, so it was a bit hard to get another big army like that.

But those skeletons are not so though. Sure one shot one kill but they are destroyed quite fast. They should be your primary objective if you want to win. A great addition for you army is the Imbue Balista and Triple Balista shot skills. I didn't get the second skill, but my Balista was already a smasher. Just imbue it with an offensive spell. I didn't have any magic skill, my Lightning spell did something about 300 damage (I had the artifact +50% Lightning spell power). My Balista killed over 250 skeletons per turn. Split your archers stacks so they want be killed whole at once. Try to block them with sprites (yes sacriface them) or even better Treants, and give them the defense option (I've had the Stand Your Ground ability so it was even better). If you like you can make them you favoured enemy, even more damage guaranteed...

Oh, and I didn't use any Necropolis units, I only used Sylvan...

[NAG]

w00t...I finally did it. man....you can´t imagine the smile on my face when that Nicolai went down (and then came back because I still had to kill 1 pack of spectral dragons). But he came back with only a small army and it was easy to get rid of him after that.
The movie at the end of this map was not logical. Nicolai first fights everything and then wants to find peace. I he wanted peace then he should have surrendered.
But ah well....working on the mages map now. Made it to the 3rd campaign. What I love is that in map 2 that you have to recapture the towns from the undead....you captured them yourself with Nicolai. Cool. Only pity that you can´t convert the towns.

Thanx for all the help here....I know where to ask if I get stuck again