Scenario Notes

This page contains my notes on the scenario maps that come with Heroes IV and its expansions.

I'm taking these notes in order to figure out what I like about the game and maybe learn something about map design.

A Tale of Two Enemies

Play 1

Very straightforward map, suitable for introducing beginners to the game. Not very much fun, though. Each player has a town and access to a mine of each type. The players are separated by a wall with a few guarded garrisons in it. There are also two ways to get around the wall, similarly guarded. Your starting hero is level 5. Other than that, everything is bog-standard.

There are no really challenging fights on the map (I only saw one rank 3 monster and no rank 4s) and very few interesting decisions to make.

Ratings

Ancestral Home

Play 1

You play against two computer players who are not allied. You have to get to them and conquer their towns before they can get to yours. You have several advantages: access to extra creatures, items, and powerups, and a back door to get into their base, which they are blocked from using.

Beyond the Lake

Play 1

You start with all buildings and two mid-level heroes (levels 10 and 15). I liked the accelerated start — it provides more tactical options — but the fights didn't seem to have been made more difficult to match. The only slightly difficult fights are the rank-4 "bosses" you have to get past to reach your opponent, and fortunately for me, the AI player took care of those right at the moment I wanted to attack.

I'd recommend this map as a way to introduce new players to the midgame.

Chasing Reptiles

Play 1

Pretty standard symmetric two-player map. There is one route to the other player, and the first one to traverse it gets a bunch of free items. My one complaint about this map is that the layout of each player's side is very linear with the town at one end, which results in a lot of running back and forth despite the small map size.

The scenario has a (very thin) plot. At least they tried.

Danger in the Trees

Play 1

In this scenario, you set out to conquer the Jumbled Wood, which isn't really all that jumbled. There are several side quests, but who has time for that? I ignored the quests and just cruised around the map taking every town. Maybe if the AIs had defended themselves better I wouldn't have felt the urge to murder them all as quickly as possible.

The map is generous with gold (you get a mine pretty early) so Order might be easier than other alignments.

Overall, a memorable map, though I wish the quests had been more integral.

Escape from Biggun's Playground

Play 1

This map annoyed me. You're railroaded onto a linear path, so it takes a long time to get anywhere. The quests are simplistic. The writing is obnoxious. Your opponents are stationary targets. It has its moments, but it greatly overstays its welcome.

Forest Frenzy

Play 1

Interesting asymmetrical two-player map. Both players have Nature towns, but one is restricted to wolves, tigers, griffins, and faerie dragons, while the other is restricted to sprites, elves, unicorns, and phoenixes. There is a third, computer-only player, whose town cannot be captured by either human player. The game ends when either player's town is captured. There are several portals and looped paths between the towns, and a couple gold mines to fight over.

I can see this being a fun map if played against another human. Unfortunately, the computer players are too weak to make for a fun fight. I was able to hold both gold mines pretty consistently. I won because my opponent left their town empty, and I strode in with a single hero. Kind of anticlimactic.

Another downside is that there's a lot of micromanagement since each player is trying to kite the other. This would make turns take a long time in a human-vs-human game.

Hell hath no fury...

Play 1

Might is probably the easiest alignment on this map, where you fight against Chaos and magic resistance is quite helpful. There are plenty of opportunities for hero progression, and I was able to get Grandmaster in all combat skills by the end of the game. A memorable map.

Manifestations

Play 1

Fun two-player duel between life and death. You start with a level 17 hero and no town, and must race to a central cache of treasure and then defeat your opponent's hero. Unfortunately, the AI is terrible at this map. I don't know if it misjudges the fights (underestimating its hero) or what. The fights against neutral creatures are also quite easy, some bizarrely so — why did the mapmaker even bother putting them there? I would play on a higher difficulty setting next time. I imagine this would be fun to play against another human, but it might turn into a battle of who has the best adventure-map micro.

Marauders of the High Seas

Play 1

You start with a single archer hero, and no access to taverns, and must conquer a series of towns to ultimately defeat the pirate "boss". The map suffers from too much adventure-map micro - lots of scouting enemy towns with a single unit to see if they're empty, caravanning units from creature dwellings, etc. I defeated the AI's main army halfway through the game, and they never recovered, so the boss fight ended up being anticlimactic. Being limited to a single hero made for an interesting game, though, since I could only threaten one town at a time, and had to use my main hero to take mines.