The great Heroes and Empires I is a very fun map that you can easily play 10 times running to get used to it and discover new tricks and abilities. A try is atleast worth it.
Basicly, in this map you are eithor a hero who goes around killing units and doing quests or an empire that builds houses, an economy, soldiers and even advance through history. As a hero you lose if all 10 of your lives are lost, as an empire you lose if all your units die.
The game is a great survival, you have to survive long enough to become strong enough to kill the super boss unit. Do not think this will be easy, as the final boss does not want to die so he sends out ever incresingly strong armies and heroes of his own, and with special events tries to get even stronger unless you stop them in time. Hopefully you will become stronger than what he throws at you or else the world is doomed. Do not think this will be easy however as other heroes might not agree to join you on your quest and might get more joy by killing you.
If the story is boring, you can always turn it into a PvP arena style game by voting it off at map int.
Tips
It will always start out Free For All, so ally with other players quickly via the "-ally all" command unless you want people to mindlessly lose lives.
A merc hero is pretty good early on, but the extra exp from freelancer eventually pays off power wise.
Never waste your time attacking other players that kill you easily, rather train and then fight back when you out power them.
As empire build a lot of houses and farms, since there is no limate in the number you can have and the advantages you will receive are great.
A good empire setting for an empire is 10 rations, 2-3 tax and about 10-20% people not relaxing.
As an hero, use your stat points as soon as you can as they really make a big difference in power early - mid game.
It is wise to max 1 stat at a time, as every 5 levels of the stat you get, the more stats it brings in per level.
Never panic and remember to ask for help if need be, diplomacy means a lot in this game.
This download is provided by The Hive Workshop.