Map Name: Alexandra the Great (Alex.h4c) Created by: Mike Johnson (battleship@psnw.com) Map Type: Single player w/5 computer opponents Map Size: XL w/ full underground Map Difficulty: Expert Game Ver: HOMM IV Winds of War Language: English Special Win: Reenter Alexandria (eventually) Special Loss: Lose the hero Alexandra Play Level: For the best challenge, play on championship level w/mobile guards. All play testing was done on that level. Playtester: Ruth Johnson battleship@psnw.com Description: Alexandra has followed in her father's footsteps. Extremely ambitious, she is always trying to expand the empire she inherited. She has prepared long and hard for this expedition, her last according to her seers.... Narrative: This is a single player ‘adventure’ style map. Human player has no standard access to creatures. All creature dwelling within castles are disabled, however the castles WILL generate a lot of creatures for the computer combatants. All accessible external creature dwellings will 'disappear' upon the player's entrance into a given region or area of the map. This scenario plays like a campaign with all the scenarios on one map. In most cases, you must finish one region to move on to the next. A very special thanks to Veldrynus, a member of the Celestial Heavens Round Table, for uncovering the "XXX file is bad" bug. I had a lot of hours into this map and without his insight, it would not load properly. Note: Once in a while, when you reenter Alexandria with the Grail, the victory conditions do not trigger. If that happens, just reenter Alexandria again. ********************************************************************** SPOILERS: WARNING!!! SPOILER INFORMATION FOLLOWS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! SPOILERS: WARNING!!! SPOILER INFORMATION FOLLOWS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! SPOILERS: WARNING!!! SPOILER INFORMATION FOLLOWS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! SPOILERS: WARNING!!! SPOILER INFORMATION FOLLOWS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! SPOILERS: WARNING!!! SPOILER INFORMATION FOLLOWS PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! General Hints: Alexandra (human player) initially starts out with two towns, but one disappears real quickly. Don't try to win the first battle, as it is not possible, just retreat. Since Alexandra will not have access to any creature dwellings, the taking of mines and the accumulation of money and resources may appear to be extraneous at first glance. However, castle defense may become necessary, thus they probably should be built up. Also, some of the quests require large amounts of resources to satisfy, so economic warfare (taking mines, resources, etc.) is still a valid concept. Quests run the gamut from absolutely critical for game progression to some ‘nice to have’ artifacts. Many quests are satisfied within a region or area, but NOT all. Silver and Gold oracles are a MUST find to satisfy certain quests, etc, including the ultimate victory conditions. All of the other oracles provide for some ‘nice to have’ artifacts. Speed is not critical, but the longer you take, the bigger certain enemies become (and harder to kill). The underground provides numerous ‘emergency’ exits in case you get it from some 'backdoor buddy' or something else. Do not be afraid to attack stacks that are too strong. Attack, knock them down in strength, retreat, and repeat the process until they are gone (hit and run tactics). This will be necessary in certain cases. Make sure you have taken nearby castles for a shorter retreat. A second built-up hero (or if your really insecure, more) is a definite plus and fairly easy to do once you are in the ‘Fear’ region. Especially useful around the pirates is a built-up stealth hero. ************************************************************************** Spoilers (Nothing too revealing): Kill King Bofmog ASAP. His scroll is just about a must have since you don’t have any troops. The Tiger Helm, etc., is also a must have (especially on Championship level) to be able to survive in battle. Make sure to fulfill the first quest (the hermit cave) ASAP. An extra hero or creature will cause wandering single-type monsters to break into two stacks. This is real useful with King Bofmog’s scroll. Each region has wandering neutral armies, complete with heroes. If left undisturbed, they may retake your towns. This may undo some previously completed quests, causing you to have to backtrack to retake them costing you time. Attempt to kill these hordes or at the very least, leave them leaderless. This will keep them from retaking various towns. Save all of the extra creatures (except the squire), as there are not many of them, for the final battle against Lord Mikruth. They make excellent cannon fodder, as do extra heroes. There are two silver and two gold oracles that are difficult to locate, especially one in the southern Natural Region and one between the Midlands and Fear regions. Look on the islands. Search everywhere. If all else fails, load the map into the WoW map editor, use the 'Find' feature and find the ones you missed.