Something is rotten?

[tsevech]

Yes, definitely :)

This mission is driving me crazy, I've the feeling that it is totally unbalanced. Every time I reach the eastern part of the map and I try to take the first orc city, it's a sort of a nightmare.

There are three fights in a row: might hero, shaman hero and the city itself. They must be killed all in a row, otherwise they just respawn... with all the troops they had before! I'm pretty sure I can try to win these fights, but I will necessarily sacrifice most of my troops. And, if I know Might and Magic well enough, this means a sure loss in the next future.

So, is it normal to have three fights in a row? I tried to reach the city in time, otherwise the cheating AI is just going to raise hell. Also, is it expected that I have to lose so many troops?

I've been playing HoMM since the second one and I think this one is the worst balanced ever... or I just don't get how to play this game

[ℭ𝔬𝔭𝔶𝔠𝔞𝔱]

Are you a good fighter? To find out, go to Options -> Gameplay, and turn Quick Combat on. When you meet an enemy, the battles will be auto-calculated and your losses (and his losses) will be reported as soon as you engage in a fight. In that results screen, on the bottom-left corner, there is a button that says Play Manually. Click on it. If your losses are less than the auto-calculation, then you should battle the orcs yourself. If not, let the computer auto-calculate the battle for you. Auto-calculation usually reports great losses in big battles, but it is useful when you greatly overpower the enemy to save time by not fighting weaklings.

Also, make sure to hire all the units you can before engaging the orcs in combat.

[tsevech]

Thanks for your reply!

This is very interesting: apparently, I suck in trivial combats, but I'm better than the AI in large combats. If I turn the autocombat on, the AI wins with no loss most of the fights where I would lose, say, 2-3 elements of my army. By playing like this, I manage to have quite larger armies, which should help me in defeating the orcs.

I'm not very happy though :-) I'd like to be as good as the AI on trivial combat. I'm surprised that it is able to avoid losses even in fights involving shooters, which should produce some casualties at the very least. Any advice by your side?

[Sam]

I recommend checking out http://lparchive.org/Might-Magic-Heroes-VI/ for tips in general, and tips for each mission (including Anton's first). You may find it very useful. I am not a seasoned HoMM player, but I have heard this game does require different strategies than other entries in the series.

I don't recall specifics for what I did for that map, but you might find it best to play all of the 1st missions for each of the factions before completing any campaign. This will get you familiar with all the core creatures of each faction, as well as their specialties (for example, Inferno specializes in Destiny/Luck, and lucky shots fill its gauge, allowing it to summon creatures based on its stacks). I don't know how much of this is similar to previous games in the series, but I have heard the general comment from veterans that strategies have changed significantly. I recommend trying Stronghold, Sanctuary, Haven, Inferno, and Necropolis in that order. Once you've done all of the first missions, move on to the faction you want (or keep jumping around in the order on that website above if you want to maintain story continuity).

EDIT: Looking over the write-up on the website again reminded me of how tricky the ending was, after you cross the bridge. Look at the 3rd page of the write-up at the website above, it has some tips. Fortunately, not a lot of the maps are like this (so far--I have finished the 3rd map on all campaigns except Anton's, and the 4th map for Sandor; I have finished the first two maps for Anton; I am going in story order, not in campaign order). You will end up with heroes coming after your towns in a fair number of maps, though, so you will find it handy to learn how to deal with them. Advanced Town Portal in the town you find being assaulted the most (and *NOT* in other towns so the Advanced Town Portal takes you to the threat and not somewhere else that is closer) is a huge help, and sometimes you may need to split your army prior to the final battle, keeping a small contingent with a secondary hero that guards the fort, then join the army at the end before the final battle of the map.

[tsevech]

Thanks, Sam, I will check!

[tsevech]

Just to tell that, after enabling auto-combat for the first two weeks, I'm totally destroying the map as a piece of cake. I think this game has serious balancing issue, at least on this specific map.

I'm waiting for the end though :-)

[ℭ𝔬𝔭𝔶𝔠𝔞𝔱]

You could try different strategies for taking out small armies. Remember to use your Heroic Strike and your Faction Ability as soon as possible, and to take out ranged units as soon as possible if applicable (if not applicable, take out the heavy hitters or the least resilient first). And when you have to protect your fragile units (i.e. Sisters), Defend. And Praetorians, of course!

[Sam]

For fighting small stacks, Reinforcements is a great tactic to pick up ASAP. Use Reinforcements immediately on the likely target of ranged attacks (IIRC, Sisters get targeted a lot for Haven; Archers do as well). You lose numbers above their starting value at the end of battle, but the excess units are the first ones to die.

Also, learning Regeneration/Mass Regen. and Heal/Mass Heal relatively early on is beneficial...although Anton has limited Mana so keep that in mind.

[tsevech]

Thanks, guys!

Honestly speaking, I think I tried already all these good hints, but apparently not well enough. I will keep going, let's hope I manage to beat the mission ;)