i have searched and seen others having issues with the cyrus map, but i am unable to even build the bone dragons. The starting necro city tells me that i have upgraded all the buildings i can so i cannot build the castle to build the next building to build dragons.

i even restarted the scenario, to no avail. the game was patched to version 1.6 before i even played the game for the first time.

also, i dont seem to be able to convert the desert cities over. i can find no way to use the staff thats equiped by the necro hero. in 1 save i have everything else done on the map except getting through the portal and converting the towns.

being new to the game, hopefully im missing something obvious.

I just finished this map, so maybe it's fresh on my mind. There is one city in the top right corner of the map that cannot be cursed. The other three should be able to be cursed. You need to have Markal go in, then leave the town normally. Then it should give you the decision of whether or not to curse the city for 10,000 gold. Click yes, assuming you have the money, and it should be cursed into a fresh Necropolis city with no upgrades.

The first Necropolis city on the starting island does not have the buildings to be able to recruit Bone Dragons, but every city on the larger island that you curse should be able to fully upgrade, therefore, letting you recruit Bone Dragons.

P.S. Do not worry about making a huge army to defeat Cyrus. You do not fight him until the next mission and you get a brand new army, unfortunately so. So as soon as you get your 20 Bone Dragons, go ahead and enter the monolith portal thingie (unless, of course, you want to level cap and get all the spells you can from Level 5 Mage Guilds [recommended]), and the mission should be completed assuming you've completed all of your other objectives.

Another thing. If you saved a game, then installed patches, then loaded the same game, you may have to restart the mission. Sometimes, when you load an un-patched mission after you have installed the patches, it messes up and won't let you complete the mission. If that is your case, then just restart the mission.

ahh, i got it.

the issue i was having is that when i would take over one of the towns i would buy a hero to man it. with a hero in the city i was never prompt to convert the city. and since i was trying all my ideas out on that one top city that cannot be converted, it didnt work. but once i went to another one and removed the hero. bam. got it. and i have now finished it and am on to the next mission.

thanks for the help

Glad you got it figured out. Good luck on the missions to come.