Part 6: Level 3
Update 6No letters today, we get straight to fighting.
The wounded land:
Chaos. A maelstrom of combat plagues the land. The people suffer, but will rally behind the wielder of the Eye of Goros, an artifact that can heal the wounded land. It was buried and lost eons ago. The first lord to uncover the Eye will unite the people and conquer the land ~ but it lies in a vast territory with only pieces of a puzzle to guide the way.
So yes, our goal today is to find the ultimate artifact. Good thing I practiced digging.
Apparently, a guy holding a giant eyeball inspires people to follow him.
The Eye of Goros was also a key quest item in the first Might and Magic, where Alamar of all people gave it to the adventurers after being freed. The item was then used to unmask Sheltem.
Our hero for today is Arturius, who came well prepared with a host of 35 peasants. Fortunately, he is obviously a badass since he has a large scar on his cheek. Let’s see if we can drive up that kill count. Woohoo! That pouch you see there, taunting me from behind the archers is the endless pouch of gold. I want it! It amuses me that I thought I would never see artifacts like this again only to encounter them 3 levels in a row.
We have made our home in beautiful scenic Sansobar, which comes with a prebuilt archery range. Nice.
I consider buying a mage guild, but ultimately the ability to conjure up pink elephants seems much more useful.
We find our first obelisk.
This sucks. It’s another knight and a barbarian. Good thing I didn't buy a mage guild yet. The barbarian comes with orcs, which are for all intents and purposes identical to archers, and goblins. The knight comes with peasants and archers. I ultimately pick angry Simon Pegg. He is a knight and as such synergizes better with the rest of the army.
Simon picks a chest +1.500 and then I hesitate. Next turn I’ll probably try and defeat that horde of peasants with him. This sucks, more archers are guarding that mine.
day 2
That’s a lot of obelisks that I need to find before I can get an idea.
Arturius inspires confidence by getting those peasants to join us. I wonder if those archers will join as well.
Meanwhile, Simon’s friendly smile has the opposite effect on the horde of peasants he’d found.
If this was chess, he was this close to getting his queen back.
There are a lot of villages in this game, I really didn’t remember there being this many.
Back home I build the blacksmith and hire a hero who is not a knight. Troyan the sorceress joins our ranks with the sorely needed
Diamonds are a girls best friend, so she’s naturally drawn to the gems and picks up the mercury afterward. I want to join her army with Arturius so we can take on those archers. I want my sack!
day 3
Ector (angry Simon Pegg) visits a windmill and gets some ore. That’s nice.
+1.000 gold thanks to Arturius who makes his way around the castle again. He meets with Troyan and gets her sprites.
Back home a mage guild is built. I…I can live with this, even if view mines isn’t going to be as useful in this level. I would have liked protection better. Somehow it feels like the AI has it out for me this level.
day 4
Just a quick stop for some spells. While there he also quickly digs a well so we can buy a blacksmith nxt run.
Why am I doing this? Those stupid stones are really in the way.
We blessed the sprites. They do pretty good damage. In fact, let’s talk sprites.
I like sprites. They are the level 1 unit of the sorceress town. They're let down by their low health, but are otherwise good and capable of taking on even some level 2 units thanks to their useful special ability. If centaurs aren't the best level 1 unit, then sprites most certainly are. Flying units being broken in heroes1/2 helps as well. Sprites attack with such
And now they’re dead, it was fun while it lasted. At least we still have these screenshots to remember them by. By the way, those are my swordsmen walking.
My peasants are never reaching the other side with those stupid stones everywhere.
Now we’re talking.
My archers will not survive, but at least they took a stack along with them.
My peasants slowly make their way there. They were just shot, but I cursed the archer beforehand. Wouldn't want to lose to many of them.
Just in time guys, now give those swordsmen a back massage.
But was it worth it?
That leprechaun is an idiot. YES! Give me that!
It's all mine!
We find another obelisk.
I have a feeling it’s going to be in the center of the map somewhere. Probably slightly offset from the middle.
Maybe Troyan knows a clever ruse to take over villages. Also, more archers to screw me over. This is the worst.
day 5
Resources and another obelisk.
We buy pikemen, time for a hostile takeover.
day 6
Attack!
This is unexpected. I thought it was a knight town.
Peasants beat flying girls.
Peasant kill count: 9
More blood! We’re getting hammered on the way there.
I probably should’ve attacked the dwarves first.
A well placed bless helps us out.
Peasant kill count: 12
And in tradition the last hit belongs to the pikemen.
I underestimated this village, I had wanted to do this without losses. Normally villages slowly build up their forces, beginning weak and if you visit them a few weeks later there's a chance that they will have level 6 units. Since this is the first week (and I thought it was a knight village) I had expected a lot of peasants, a pack of archers and a few pikeman. In retrospect is was probably good that this was a sorceress town. If it had been a knight town we would have had to go into close combat with units that are close combat orientated. My overzealousness is going to be my undoing this level.
Still a victory, defense +1.
Meanwhile down below Troyan finds a hut and is traveling together with Ector. They also found a barbarian village.
Welcome to Hillstone! I’m happy that I now have a source of
I buy the sprites. I wanted to buy cavalry back home, but I was lacking in wood.
Day 7
I’m hilariously short on common resources. I can’t upgrade my new home and I can’t build a jousting arena to get cavalry. So I buy another hero. I don’t want to lose too much time. So my old buddy Kilburn can wait for the week to change and then bring the units to Arturius who buys the sprites and attacks the archers guarding our ore mine. Money is the one thing I’m not going to be short in much in this level.
Ector is slowly scrounging up an army of his own. First he recruits the peasants in the cabin and after that he finds a cabin with archers who join for free. Strange, because I was certain you were only able to get level 1 units for free.
Troyan meanwhile finds a graveyard, a great place for fighting more ghosts. It’s guarded by nomads a neutral creature. Nomads guarding a graveyard filled with ghosts? Sounds like a movie script.
Day 8
Precious units!
I’m going to leave the archers with Kilburn for the moment. Last time I fought them they all died. I can’t go through that emotional time again, we should be okay without them.
Why is the AI determined to screw me over? That crap in the middle is a natural wall.
The sprites go work.
And call in sick the next round.
On the third turn we finally reach the other side.
“Have at you!”
I just lost a swordsman and that one guy is the difference between killing a stack and just leaving it alive.
We break our tradition and the swordsmen get revenge on their fallen friend with the last hit.
Some pikedude also died, but that’s to be expected. Swords rule.
Of course.
Ector finds a campfire +500 + 5 sulfur and Troyan decides not to tangle with those other guys yet and picks up some more goblins.
Day 9
Finally some ore!
Kilburn hands off the archers and moves to the windmill.
Troyan finds nothing.
Ector finds gold (+1.000 +700), a gem mine and an obelisk, the last two he will claim next turn.
I also discover that I’m an idiot. I apparently never flagged the sawmill. :bravodowns: No wonder I’m having trouble getting wood. Yes, I am the best person to demonstrate these games.
Day 10
10 days after I started I finally flag this stupid thing. It’s been unguarded for like a week.
Bad miller, I need ore!
Ector flags the gem mine and gets the obelisk.
Arturius returns home and buys the archers I didn’t buy last time. The sales person also convinces him to take some peasants along.
Troyan heads to the sorceress village and Ector heads to the huts with units. He will be gathering them every week until I find something better to do for him.
Day 11
Ector reaches the cottages. Troyan takes up residence in her new home.
And I don’t want to be stuck anymore. We have scouting to do!
That went well.
The good things keep coming.
Troyan joins in the scouting fun.
Day 12
Troyan spots gold, while Arturius solves my ore problems. He finds a stack of 13.
Day 13
A new week, I was just short one day to get a jousting arena.
Kilburn was already on his way to get units for Arturius.
Ectors gets archers.
He also gets more peasants.
Troyan finds a crystal mine guarded by rogues. And she finds 700 gold and an obelisk.
Arturius finds an obelisk and a laboratory. That last one will come in handy for my sorceress village…if I ever get the wood to upgrade.
Day 14
Troyan reaches the obelisk.
She also spots some very stylish shoes. She’s not going to pick them up. Spidersense is tingling.
Ector picks up the goblins and heads for the mill.
Kilburn reaches home and buys a spellbook. I wanted him to give reinforcements to Arturius, but I want to start exploring more. He instead moves out with a brand new army.
Day 15
Arturius must be a natural diplomat. I think it's the scar. Yes please, I’ll take some rogues.
The adventures of Ector.
Day 16
Just short!
More adventures for Ector. The units he gathered up join with Kilburn. Nice army.
Day 17
Called it! An unguarded artifact? As if such a thing exists.
We are so slow.
The rogues attack.
“Keep away from my friend!”
They gang up on my swordsmen and they should be very happy for their no retaliation perk.
We obviously take revenge when it’s our turn and in proud tradition the pikemen finish the last one.
Boots! These boots give you a 3 extra movement points on land. The compass I had last level gave me 5 points on land and one water. Not quite as good, but still very welcome.
I’m going to end the update here. Audience participation! I have two questions.
1: Currently Kilburn is staring at those gargoyles and griffins. I wanted to attack the gargoyles and scout out the flanks. However I'm certain the Eye is in the center of the map. I could keep the gargoyles and griffins alive as a natural barrier and instead attack the nomads. I'm sure there will be at least a few obelisks in the middle. What do you think I should do?
2: I have to save up 20 wood for my next purchase. The problem is, I need 20 wood for both the cathedral and to erect a castle on Hillstone. Don’t pull out your calculator, I already did the math.
It’s around 40 wood in total to do both. Both are very useful. I’m thinking of saving up to upgrade the castle since it would get me better shooters fairly easily. Of course the problem there is that I will postpone getting the cathedral for a long time since I need wood for most basic structures. Once again what do you think?See you next time when we hopefully do some actual digging and maybe find out what the AI has been up to!