Naked challenge

[Razorflame]

eh what the one in verona with 1k peasant stack + demoness?

when he losing the fight he ussualy cast armageddon?

u used fear one last peasant stack or something? ^^

impressive how far u can get with being naked lol

but i gues your build is soley based on the droids

so your next naked challenge will be without using droids

no loss ofc hahah

[impy]

I haven't done that hero with Armageddon yet. Once I am much stronger than him, I take only droids and mostly evade his army so his uses up his mana on weak demon portals then go for the kill.
Yes, I pretty much have to use droids a lot, since I do not have many means of resurrecting.
small update here - 200 fights done, rougly 2/3 of the game, still going no loss. A few more strategy tips (well known again )
- 4 x dryads + black dragons for fighting almost any enemies consisting of level 1-3 units. Dragon lowers enemy initiative, if needed cast Battle cry spell to make sure enemy does not get a turn. dryads put enemies to sleep, dragons kill enemies one by one
- single black/red/bone dragons stack or any combination of 2 or 3 of them for fighting slower melee
- rune mages + any decent army vs. enemy army containing inquisitors. Let few inquisitors live at the end and resurrect back all your army via rune mages summons.
- higher leadership vampire+ancient vampire combo. Once you have higher leadership and vampires can take a hit they become a solid all rounder - taking down shooters, blocking the middle etc.. Best used as combo, because single unit still cannot take all the beating. In this challenge used together with droids.
As I said, these are all known strategies, interesting thing is when they are pushed to the limit. For example, I used single black dragon for just flying around in one old challenge. Single black dragon could hardly generate enough damage so it was mostly evading enemies. Not when you have leadership 20000 and can take 8 blacks + 10 reds. Yes, standard strategy is single stack of blacks which can take even respectable armies down quickly (just defeated level 42 Rakatarh in 25 turns, or White Night), but if situation calls for it even medium size shooters are manageable - fear, Chaos dragon for 2 turns, cast trap for nearby enemies and attack, oil mist, destroy shooters quickly and than let the fireworks begin...Dryad strategy works well even if enemy has one level 4-5 stack. you just cannot let it approach dryads and fool it with dragon stack and spells. Worked nicely on Shiva for example... Rune mages + inquisitors trick works well with Demenion, Thomas Torque, marshall's batton, archmages staff for example

[Razorflame]

nice

suprised u still don't have trapper medal haha

[impy]

Well, this is what I was thinking - I can find let's say 0-20 trap scrolls randomly in the game. Since I am not allowed to learn spells, what's the point of using 10 of them to get trapper level 1 and get one random trap generated per battle if I can save all the scrolls and use them as and when I really need them.
Update here - 250 fights, still going no loss. If the whole game is roughly 300 fights, it means so far around 85% of the game can be finished with completely naked character and no loss...
Couple of tips & tricks
- remember difference between HMM2 and HMM3? In HMM2 enemy attacked your strongest stack, in HMM3 it was the weakest stack. In KB it is usually the weakest stack. Take advantage of it - use one unit which has low resist + low unit hitpoints, which will attract enemy fire and gives you the most advantage. The idea is to use this unit special skills and after taking heavy damage cast time back for resurrecting and recharging skills. Examples - take gorguanas and use their mark of blood skill, resurrect at the end of round 2 and cast mark of blood again. Take goblin shamans with toadstool liquor, unleash astral damage in round one, repeat in round two. For slower melee enemy, you can combine gorguanans with goblin shamas for some serious damage. This is generally very useful tactics once you learn time back spell, in this challenge it has its limits.You can also combine mark of blood with pain mirror spell.

[Razorflame]

GJ u already finished it or that impossible?

[impy]

I haven't had much time to play..It was snowing in london for a while and I was hoping to get snowed in so I can do something useful - like playing computer games I am at 261 fights, still no-loss. I attached 2 savegames - one at level 2, after training, if somebody want to give it a try. Verona and Montero guardians are manageable as you can see from my previous screenshots. Game also has obscene number of time back scrolls, more than 10, which will be useful in endgame;I haven't used any so far.The second save is my current progress, if somebody want to take a peek and see what it's all about towards the end. Note : The saves are version 1.3.1. build 6170 unmodded

[Razorflame]

nice one i hardly play KB anymore since wotn was a flop so

if i ever get into it again i will try

[impy]

cool
I think I said somewhere long time ago that my gaming life works in cycles, meaning every few years I go back to games which meant a lot to me. So I go back to HMM3 and play Shadow of death camp., followed by some brilliant maps like Vengeance is mine, Unleashing the bloodthirsty or Eternal love camp. Then I start up diablo2 and play some crazy druid build or something. Now it's KB turn. So I just sat there thinking what to do, since just regular playthrough will not cut it and came up with this naked challenge. I understand it may not appeal to many people, simply because it's just not "bombastic" enough. You do not have the dragon to cut through 20-48% of 1-2 stacks in round one, do not have the power to seriously cripple enemy (blind, slow...) , stone skin is weak, target non existent, it is more of a clever cat-and-mouse running around the battlefield with only cheap spells when desperate. Regarding my current progress: I stopped at 266 fights no loss, after that one has to start seriously using scrolls - timeback, peacefullnes, wanderer scrolls etc. Eventually I want to get around 280 fights no loss, to prove that over 90% of the game can be done this way. However, this screenshot from my old Paladin ultimate challenge caught my attention - 100% damage done by troops, 0% done by pet dragon or spell book. Since one cannot do 100% by pet dragon only, that only leaves 100% by spells. I am goint to try it, no special conditions this time. I suppose it was already done, but hey, why not? I just wonder if damage done by summons & clones counts as spell book or troop damage...

[Razorflame]

so u quit the no loss run with the no pet dragon/no skill useage?

[impy]

Noo,sir.. Just taking a very short break. I know I came up with this challenge and started posting about it and the least I should do is …simply to do my best. This naked challenge is by far the most difficult KB thing I played and although it has been nerve-wracking experience and most of the fights required planning, I still have enjoyed its..hm..call it purity and in a way simplicity. But after 266 fights I couldn’t find single fight which could be done no loss without fairly heavy usage of scrolls. And somehow I stopped having fun. And without fun there is very little motivation. I still want to go on, just need a short break. I started that 100% spell playthrough and I’m having fun again. It shouldn’t take long, then I go back to naked challenge. I’m using save posted on page 4 of Droids are not overpowered thread, which Fattshade tested and it seems very good. Done so far about 100 fights.