Help! Battles of Ardania - Firewall

[unmerged(252847)]

I am completely stuck on this level (Firewall in Battles of Ardania expansion). I have tried several different strategies from rushing, to bunkering in and none of them seem to get me anywhere near winning. I have sunk about 10 hours into this one level and am getting very frustrated at how poorly it is balanced (it's level 3 and labeled as advanced, not expert). Either I am doing something terribly wrong or the QA/design teams completely dropped the ball on this level's balance.

The big problem seems to be the minotaurs since if they are left to their own devices they will put more more pressure on me then can possibly be dealt with. However, I can't rush them because they start with ~8 level 15 minotaurs and leveling up only seems to get me to about level 10 before they are heavily pressuring me.

I also tried protecting the allied town to see if perhaps it offered some reward but no matter how long I defend it for it just seems to sit there being useless. The best I managed to do was get to turn 75 (game over) with 4/8 towers built but time ran out before I could get the last four built and I was really hard pressed to even get the 4 built that I did.

Please, if anyone could offer *any* advice for this level I am all ears. I am about ready to quit playing the game all together because of this one level, this is after playing all the way through both the original game and Kingmaker.

 

[Meneldil]

Well, I just did it earlier today, and had no problem whatsoever.

Here is what I did though :
Build guilds for rangers, rogues and warriors as well as two priestess guilds and a market.
Start taking out the surrounding Cemetaries and Gates (put 200 flags on them).
Once your heroes are lvl 6 or so, head north to the first two towers. Put a 500/1000 protect flag on each. Even though the black minotaurs are though, they should go down, albeit slowly. There's a snake nest nearby too, so destroy it once you've secured the towers (and destroyed the Pyramid).
By now, I was able to make parties. So make some and dispatch them to help the ally and destroy the nests that threaten him. Soon enough, you'll find two other towers. Protect them while they're being built. Rinse and repeat, and if you're really to pressed up, destroy the minotaurs' palaces when you have some parties with mid-level heroes.

Black minotaurs are going to start attacking by now, you just have to make good use of your flags to protect the AI and your city. The AI died in my game because I didn't pay enough attention.

As usual, build merchant guilds whenever you find a new spot.

 

[SirGrotius]

I'm getting slammed here too. I usually lose too many towers. Using parties seems to be sound advice.