Hey guys,
I am wondering what is my objective in the first map in the campaign of the game? I am thinking it has something to do with exploring the map. What does that mean. Am I supposed to explore the dungeons in the towns continuously or what. Just go from town to town exploring all the dungeons? I guess? Or am I wrong?

Agreed. I think alot of people are wondering that as well including myself. I have been keeping track on here for a while and i have heard alot of complex answers of game mechanics but no one has answered this simple straightforward question. I always lose the first map cause i'm too busy exploring and the enemies have all that time to build up there forces to crush my sorry ass. At the same token I went the other way to expand my control and i'm spread too thin. LOL i would imagine there is a balance to be maintained between the two. I can't wait to see the answers to this question for sure.

The first map is the tutorial... it leads you around by the nose until you get on to the home shard.
Are you asking about the first time ‘on your own’ shard map? Just pick any shard and capture it... control all the provinces.

Basics;
Pick a hero and karma;
Warrior = good, wizard = evil & the other two are neutral... yes you can play a good wizard but you will find it very hard without being able to summon un-dead and such.
Example; My typical opening Warrior turn is to build the mage shop so that he can use his three spell slots then look around for an easy quest.
1. If you are very lucky there might be a mail or plate armour shop in your capital province... yippee!
2. No shop, o’well how about some Goblins?
3 No Goblins, is there a free human settlement you can bribe into joining you?
A warrior lives or dies by his gear so I play an economic strategy i.e. capture/bride provinces and build one of the money earners (wind mill, mines and saw mill) to build funds in order to pay for the next items but a Wizard jump strait into quests because he can raise extra peons during battle & his only real expense is the odd scroll.

Strategically the idea is to look at what each shard will give you and decide what will help you most;
Example one shard might be tiny and only give you energy but there won’t be more than one other player on it where as another shard could be average size and allow you to build the second level Sharman units witch your Warrior likes but the fact that it is bigger means there may be two other players vying for it so you could have to fight a two front war.

I suggest either the Warrior or Wizard for your first campaign because they are simple to build up and save the other two until you get an idea of the rules... IMO having no English manual is really hurting this game.

You give good advise for beginners, but I just want to say that bribing a Free Settlement is (almost?) always a bad idea. They are by far the easiest provinces to take by force, saving you the gold AND giving you easy exp.

Note : The objective is not to completly conquer the map, but to eliminate every opponent by capturing their homebase. You can ignore 80% of the map and still win if you manage to make a beeline to the enemy HQ and succesfully sieging it.

Even basic militia can be a difficult battle for a turn one Warrior but yes I see your point.

Capture main enemy castle!

If you mean the tutorial map then it's the same objective as the actual campaign shards - the only difference is that your opponent is inactive, so you never face the threat of being attacked by his forces. (Other things could still potentially cause you trouble though.)

Yup. You never need to 100% explore every province. You also don't need to clean out every "lair" in provinces. I almost always leave some lairs unharvested even in my demesne (home province) at end-game. As was noted above, you win by knocking out the rival AI players, which you do by conquering their home castles.

Your score (defined as "Glory" once you get past the tutorial mission) is determined by a bunch of different things, but if you take too long to conquer a Shard, you can get a time penalty.

It's a balancing act between exploring your home province (which gives very modest experience to your hero and allows your town to grow larger and larger), harvesting the toughest lairs that you can survive without major casualties (which yield one-time gold, gems, and hero goodies--as well as a lot more XP), and conquering new provinces (which yield gold, gems, and more locations to explore if you have the time).

As a general rule of thumb, your Heroes are the tip of your spearpoint. Level them up whenever you can and plan your long-term building strategy around what will turn them into killing machine as quickly and cheaply as possible.

If you're speaking about the tutorial, you might have to explore provinces (generally north) and fight until you find a blueprint of a shipyard, then you need to construct it in your castle, and you will be able to go west to fight your sleepy opponent. I had the same problem because I clicked too fast and could not find the objectives, and didn't recalled what was my goal, I needed to restart.

If you're speaking about the 1st shard (real campaign map), then see the other advices, they are good

One of the provinces in the north already has a shipyard. You just need to conquer that province. Then you can use its shipyard to go west.

I've never had any trouble playing a good wizard.

By level 30 an archmage can max every skill but one, so just don't take any necromancy. You can still use summoning for golems, gargoyles, and phoenixes.


As for the tutorial level, it's probably best to follow the instructions you're given as closely as possible, and conquer provinces as fast as you can without exploring too much. Your mentor does tell you not to loiter.

From a gameplay perspective, you want to win that level as fast as possible so you can get to the real game.

The tutorial is very easy, compared to the following real game.
After the tutorial, you will need to secure your heroe: the best way is to add him better troops.
I buy the wood lancers, which don't need wood so they are cheap. They are enough to conquier with complete success the first neighbour provinces. Before that, I explore the capital. Put your starting paesants in, and also your harmed troops while you don't have healers (buy other troops to replace).
Only explore the provinces when they ask for (becoming red), or if you don't have anything else to do.
Your first heroe will conquier the map, and counter ennemies. Explore your country (to make your villages keep growing) with your following heroes. If you don't have to explore (no red), then you can send your new heroes in the buildings, if easy xp.

You can disable these popups.
You need to explore:
1)For resources. Usually after construction of corresponding building
2)for spider eggs - forests
3)for dragons - hills
4)for crystals - swamps.

The tutorial was no problem for me.

The level after that in the campaign is another story entirely.

I am baffled by how the opponent had so many troops so fast.... Meanwhile, I've build everything I can, taken the surrounding neutral provinces, explored some ruins, and get WTFPWND when the opponent shows up.

I'm not sure what I did wrong to be honest, maybe not attacking soon enough - though I'm not sure how to tell when the right time is.