		
		HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC III: SHADOW OF DEATH MAP


Date:			March 25, 2002

Map Name: 		The Uprising (Uprising.h3m)

Map Maker:		Hans C.

E-mail:			Leddux@aol.com 
			VERY IMPORTANT!!! You can always try to contact me for any reason
			using the e-mail above.  However, if for some reasons the e-mail
			gets bounced back or you don't get answer within reasonable time,
			please write to Charles Cone at CECone@tecinc.com.  He will be happy
			to answer your e-mail. [Thanks in advance Charles!] 
			

Map Size:		2 Layers, Extra Large

Map Type:               4 HC (Rampart, Dungeon, Castle, Fortress/Stronghold) 4 C, no alliance 
			
Language:		English

Description:		An evil spirit has bewitched the King and the kingdom soon follows a 
                        path to destruction.  Discontented rulers, outraged loyal generals,
                        and restless population rise to challenge the despotic king.  Who
                        will be victorious and emerge as the new King?  

Special Victory/Loses: 	None

Difficulty:		Impossible (or depending on the start-up difficulty setting)

Playtesters: 		Charles Cone (CECone@tecinc.com)
			Jrg-Matthias Wulff (jmwulff@hotmail.com)
			Christian Barnas (c_barnas@hotmail.com)
			Fritz Tichy (friedrich.tichy@univie.ac.at)
			Patrick (Longshanks@aol.com)
			Lorenz Adena (Adena@RUS.Uni-Stuttgart.DE)

Narrative:		Read "Introduction"

Special Note: 		- The [basic] storyline is loosely based on the classic Chinese novel 
			"Creation of the Gods." (unknown author)
			- Some of the name for heroes and towns are "borrowed" from various 
			Japanese animation (yes, I am an anime #1 fan).


Note: 			#1: There's essentially no main player.  You can try to play the game
			with different color to appreciate the distinct style of each town
			and its starting hero(es).

			#2: This map has an Impossible difficulty rating.  The longer you wait
			the more powerful the AI's become.  However, seasoned players are
			recommended to play this map on Impossible to test their skill. 
                        The Impossible rating has been carefully tested for all four 
			playable colors. 
			
			#3: This map has not been tested for multiplayer game although 
			everything has been balanced out carefully:  Player 1 and 3 are
			roughly equal and so are Player 2 and 4.

			#4: Please e-mail me if you have any questions or feedbacks (good 
			or bad).  Also please play the other map and campaign that I have 
                        created:  ETERNAL LOVE (AB campaign and RoE map) and THE LONE KNIGHT
			(SoD map).
			

IMPORTANT!!             #1: Be sure to know all the available artifact combinations and their
			components.  ALL of combo artifacts are available in this map, either
			by trading, acquiring them from the AI's and/or assembling 
			from pieces.  Furthermore, because there's a limit to the number of
                        artifacts that the main hero can hold in his/her backpack, it's highly
                        advisable to keep some of the artifacts in other heroes' backpacks. 
			DO NOT sell or sacrifice any artifacts you think you may need. 

			CRITICAL ARTIFACTS:  ORBS OF VULNERABILITY.  There are three orbs and 
			ALL THREE are needed to advance ahead in the game.  DO NOT LOSE THEM!

			#2: Certain border gate and Seer's Huts can only be accessed by the 
			main hero(es) of each color, therefore, it's highly advisable to play 
			using the given main hero for each playable color. 
			
			#3: If you are unhappy with the set up of your new game and intend
			to re-start the game, IT IS HIGHLY ADVISABLE to restart the game 
                        from the main screen and NOT using the (auto) restart option. 

			
Known Bugs and
Problems:   		1. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Due to the glitch in the game and map design, 
			players may experience heroes shortage in the tavern, that is, their
			starting hero-type pool has been exhausted.  This may cause a clone to 
			appear in the tavern.  Hiring this clone may cause the game to crash.
			The worst news is if you happen to have this hero as a garrison hero,
			his or her armies (if any) will vanish and be replaced by his or her
			starting armies.  To prevent this from happening, make sure to check
			that everything's okay at the start of a new week. 
			There is also an instance where the AI hires a hero that belongs to
			you.  Just like stated above, his or her armies (if any) will vanish
			and be replaced by the AI's armies (if any).  The good news is if the
			AI gives this particular hero strong armies, you can just drag this
			hero and you will get to keep his or her armies and the clone on the
			AI's side will vanish.  The bad news is if this hero originally has
			your big armies -- they will all vanish. 
			This glitch only happens to NEW heroes for hire in the tavern and 
                        will NOT happen to your (8) active heroes.
			I could have prevented this glitch entirely, however, I need to limit
			the number of hirable heroes for each color to make it much easier
			in the later stage of the game to find some of the defeated heroes. 			
        
			2. Another strange glitch:  you may find yourself facing a hero 
			carrying different color than the castle s/he's defending.  There's 
			absolutely no harm in this.

			3. MAJOR GLITCH!!!  Any heroes that get defeated by the AI's will NOT
			lose the artifacts s/he carries to the winner.  This will make it
			impossible to obtain some artifacts from certain heroes if s/he's 
			defeated by the AI's already.  There's no harm in this and fast
			players should consider obtaining the artifacts from these heroes
			before s/he gets defeated as a bonus!			
			
			4. The artifact ARMOR OF THE DAMNED and ANGELIC ALLIANCE can cast 
			spells inside Anti-magic garrison.  This will make certain anti-magic 
                        garrisons a cakewalk.  Consider this as a bonus!
			Fair players should try to avoid equipping the two when attacking
			anti-magic garrison.
			There is also an instance where both artifacts will override the effect
			of Orb of Inhibition. 
			
		        5. VERY IMPORTANT!!!  Although it is impossible unless players 
			accidentally give up the artifact ANGELIC ALLIANCE to the AI's, the 
			game will crash when the AI's equip the Angelic Alliance artifact.
			A severe bug that is not been fixed yet.

			6. MAJOR GLITCH!!!  You can easily cheat when trading your artifacts
			at the Artifact Merchant.  So easily that not cheating is a whole lot 
			harder.  However, there's only ONE town capable of building an Artifact 
			Merchant in the game.  Which one?  You have to find out yourself. 

			7. MINOR GLITCH!!!  It sometimes happens that the Conflux towns: 
			Enshasa, Enshese, Enshisi, Enshoso, will not build the structures
			as given in the timed-events the first time the timed-events take
			place.  Therefore, an extra timed-event has been assigned to ensure
			the buildings of the structures to take place for human players. 
			Do not be surprised if you see repeated timed-events that may 
    			sound redundant. 
	
			8. IMPORTANT!!!  This bug's concerning the hero BLUE LEPER that can
			sometimes makes the game locked up and/or crash.
			I have no idea how it happens, but it's highly recommended to save
			your game before you attempt to free/attack this hero.
			Follow the event in the game that will give you a detailed instruction
			on the ideal way to free the hero and the game should run just fine.
			In essence, sending your secondary hero to free Blue Leper and have 
			your main hero stand guard to attack her immediately upon her jumping
			to the teleporter will make sure the hero stays dead quickly.
			You can find an example how to trap the hero Blue Leper in the spoiler
			section. It can be used if the game keeps crashing.

			9. This is documented in the manual.  There can only be up to 64 boats
			at one time.  If you can't build any more boat, you must first scuttle
			some boats.

	
ARTIFACTS:              1. NEVER EVER LOSE ALL THREE OF THE ORBS OF VULNERABILITY!  Losing a 
                        single one will render you unable to finish the game.

			2. Most of the combo artifacts come assembled and you won't need their
			single components most of the time.

			3. KEY ARTIFACTS: 
			- Bird of Perception:  You will need a total of EIGHT.
			  These figurines are so important you will not want to lose any single
		          of them.
			- Stoic Watchman:  There are only TWO in the game with one fully hidden.
			- Wizard's Well:  Come assembled, the components are junk artifacts.
			  There's no Charm of Mana to be found in the game.
			- Ring of the Magi:  Come complete, the components are useless.
			  There's no Collar of Conjuring to be found in the game.
			- Elixir of Life:  You can obtain one fully assembled or assemble them
			  yourself. 
			- Bow of the Sharpshooters:  You will need to assemble this one
		          the first time around and/or win complete from the AI's bosses.
			  One is needed to open a critical quest gate.
			- Statue of Legion:  Come assembled although you can surely make one.
			- Angelic Alliance:  You will need to assemble this sword yourself. 
			  You can make up to 2 Angelic Alliances. One is needed for Seer's quest.
			- Titan's Thunder:  You can assemble or win it. 
			  It's needed to open optional quest gates as well as a Seer's quest.
			- Power of the Dragon Father:  You have to assemble this yourself.
			  You can make up to two Powers of the Dragon Father and two are needed
                          for as quest artifacts.  
                        - Armor of the Damned:  You can assemble, win it from the AI's, or
			  obtain from Seer's Huts.
			- Cornucopia:  You must assemble this from its components.
			  One is needed for a Seer's quest.
			- Pendant of Courage:  You will need Badge of Courage, Crest of Valor,
			  Glyph of Gallantry, Clover of Fortune, Ladybird of Luck, and Cards of 
			  Prophecy to trade with this one from a Seer's Hut.  
			- Diplomacy Artifacts:  Statesman's Medal, Diplomat's Ring, and 
			  Ambassador's Sash.  You will need to find 2 sets for Seer's quests.


			Generally speaking, unless the artifact is sought after by a Seer's Hut,
			they can be safely sacrificed at the Altar of Sacrifice, including the
			combo artifacts.


	
Side Note: 		#1. Impatient players may be discouraged mid in the game where the 
			process of collecting monsters from their external generators is 
                        getting tedious.
			If you're too lazy, at least try to recruit level 7 troops and level 6
			troops of your starting town/choice. 
			Another way to remedy this is to have heroes with Logistics, Earth, 
			and Pathfinding skills as many as possible and then just rotate them.
		 	It can be accomplished by using the Altar of Sacrifice for experience. 

			#2. MONEY is important -- very important.  Just because you own a 
			Treasury and have a million in your bank doesn't mean you won't need 
			to worry anymore.  It's generally wise to pile up the money on day 7
			as much as possible by selling off unnecessary resources/creatures.
			Also it's HIGHLY ADVISABLE not to recruit any troops if not really 
			needed.  In other words, PLAN AHEAD!  If you don't plan on attacking,
			do not buy troops.
 			I feel the need to put this as a side note instead of a spoiler 
			because of its importance.  Save money as soon as you have everything
			build-up. 
			You should also pay attention to the resource-producing artifacts and
			try to assemble the Cornucopia once you gather all four of the 
			components.
			Of course the month of Plague will ruin this plan.  So it's wise to 
			save often especially during the last week of the month.  That way,
			you may be able to back track if the Plague hits you. 
			Attacking enemy hero(es) and/or their castle(s) on the last
			day of the month can usually alter the Plague occurrence.
			Needless to say, if you can't alter the Month of Plague, it's better
			to spend the money to purchase all the necessary troops.


			#3. Although this map's not made for Multiplayer game, one can try to
			edit it for an MP game.  Player 1 and 3 are roughly equal, and so are
			Player 2 and 4.  Edit the victory condition:
			- To defeat the hero Adela or Xeron (Adela is easier) if you play
			  alliance game.
			- To obtain the Statue of Legion.



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!
















1. The fastest way to the Statue of Legion:
- Visit Dark Blue, Light Blue, Brown, and Green Keymaster's Tent 
- Collect 100 Trolls and trade them for Elixir of Life
- Trade the Elixir with the Angel Feather's Arrow
- Make a Bow of Sharpshooter to open the gate to the Red Keymaster's Tent and find the 
  Stoic Watchman hidden behind the Amethyst castle
- Trade the Golden Bow with the Ring of Vitality
- Obtain the Vial of Lifeblood from the Academy castle area if you haven't had one.
- Make an Elixir of Life
- Defeat all four Shrine's Protectors to make Armor of the Damned
- Use the Stoic Watchman, Elixir of Life, and Armor of the Damned to open the gate to
  the Statue. 

And at the same time you should also be able to open the gate to Academy castle with
the Angelic Alliance. 


2. Grail messages: 
The elegant red bird #10
sitting quietly on #5
a desert lake #2
singing an enchanting song. #1
Hidden amidst #6
burning smoke, #3
a mighty artifact #9
will become  #7
a symbol of #4
a new kingdom to come. #8

You can find the Grail next to Swan Pond north of Glace (Inferno) castle.

3. Some hidden stuff:
- There's a hidden Stoic Watchman and Clover of Fortune on the Clover Field 
surrounding Amethyst castle.  Look carefully.  And look for a Rogue Cavern nearby too.
There is also a hidden teleporter to the right of the castle that will lead you to
a bonus external Cloud Temple.
- The teleporter to Cephiro castle is hidden behind the Rogue Cavern south of 
Academy castle.
- Hidden Seers:
	1. Next to Pyramid north of Ashki castle.
	2. Behind Peridot castle.
	3. West of Enshusu castle.
	4. North of Swan Pond, just above Dark Sun castle.
	5. ? (Top secret) This Seer will give you the second Angel Wings.
           You will need the Tome of Earth that you can find behind the Frozen Cliff
	   near Cephiro castle.


4. Blue Leper bug. Both Charles and Jorg-Matthias (the playtesters) encountered this bug 
when they were playtesting the map. They're not sure what caused the lock-up and they did
not do anything special to make the game work normally again. You could try to fiddle
around with your main hero and other heroes if the game keeps crashing and see if it will 
make any difference.
Here's my way to fight Blue Leper and avoiding the crash:
- Send your most mobile secondary hero to open the gate that keeps Blue Leper locked in.
- If possible you must open the gate, visiting the Silver Keymaster's Tent, and escape from
the area in the same turn. You could accomplish this by waiting in front of the gates and
open them in the next turn. Have your hero leave the area immediately via Summon Boat
and Town Portal.
- Meanwhile, have your main hero stand ready within the vicinity of DARK MOON castle.
- Once you visit the Silver Keymaster's Tent, immediately capture the Dark Moon castle.
- Send your main hero away from the castle but still within reach to attack Blue Leper
once she gets out of the teleporter. And keep one secondary hero as a bait so that Blue
Leper will come to attack him/her and away from the Cursed Ground.
- There are two exit portals. So save your game and hopefully Blue Leper will come out of
the teleporter near Dark Moon castle.
- She will then immediately attack your hero that acts as a bait. And in the next turn
you can attack her. 

This will hopefully prevent the Blue Leper bug from crashing your game.

The sure-fire way albeit rather tedious to defeat Blue Leper with zero losses:
- Bring your fastest troops like Azure Dragons. Equip the Orb of Silt and Orb of Vulnerability. 
Make sure your main hero has learned Implosion and Force Field.
- First round cast Force Field to protect the Azure and have them defend. Second round cast
Cure to remove the effect of Armor of the Damned. Have the Azure wait, then attack the Ballista.
Round three, renew the Force field. Round four, cast Implosion on the Ghost Dragons.
Repeat as necessary. This will take a long while but it will result in zero losses.









