No rests. There are as many as three Griffin Conservatories on the road. But one of them is guarded by a medium-sized pack of pits and blocks the road. There's nowhere else to go. I leveled my hero a bit, collected some external skeleton dwellings. I found Luna in the tavern, but there was nowhere to level her. I tried to use her for Hit-and-Run once, and it was very sloppy. I didn't bother buying her back. I attacked with Clavius, broke through the pits, but was left with ~35 skeletons. Scouting showed that besides a few piles of gold/resources and a couple of upgrades in the first week, I couldn't take anything, even with vampire dwellings built.
I skipped turns until day 1 week 2, exchanged resources at one market, took the first Griffin Conservatory. Then I went on to open new zones, necromancing. I picked up two more Griffin Conservatories, 2 and 3. At the end of the week, I went into a treasure zone.
The game was essentially decided by a conveniently placed Observatory. It showed another treasure zone with tasty loot and an entrance to it, and the opponent could also reach that treasure zone. I turned around and headed there. I collected Dragon Fly Hives, external angel dwellings, a Pandora's Box for level 4, a Dragon Utopia, and various small stuff.
On day 6 week 3, I took the opponent's main. The opponent went with air control to claim a rich treasure zone that I didn't have easy access to. Then followed another week of Town Portal vs Dimension Door + Flight chasing. I gathered an army, took the Cloak of the Undead King, rebuilt Flight. The opponent collected a bunch more Dragon Utopias, getting much higher stats. But the army there was minimal. On day 6 week 4, the opponent attacks for lack of better alternatives; the fight without high-level magic was a one-sided stomp. Thanks for the game!
2:1
Ivor with three stacks, Tamika as the fourth hero, going into the dungeon — everything was set for playing. A small central respawn with an external wood dwelling, roads were fast. On the first day, I broke through to the snow, necromanced there as best I could; Tamika mainly focused on visiting experience pillars. The horses were put into the fort.
On the second day, with the buyout, I hit the horde of lizards on the grass respawn, there's a Dragon Fly Hive immediately. Tamika levels up excellently: Earth and Logistics. Then a long road to the castle, along the way I necromanced the maximum Dwarf Cottage. Then the question arose of what to do. There are exits to three treasure zones, each has Dragon Utopias. I leave the stone treasure zone for late game because all entrances to it are mine. That leaves the grass treasure zone and the lava treasure zone. Based on the Earth scouting, it turned out that the lava treasure zone was more convenient for the opponent, so I went there with "butter" (haste/agility), hoping for an encounter, and also to take the Dragon Utopia there.
The encounter didn't happen. I dropped the Grand Elves at the Dragon Fly Hive because there was nowhere to leave them, and on day 3 week 2, I entered the Dragon Utopia. 300 skeletons, 12 dragons, 5 horses, 21 Grand Elf trees and dwarves. I exit with 200 skeletons, 4 dragons, 7 horses; they give a necklace +all, Books of Air and Water, Water Boost. Tamika is close to getting Wisdom, has basic Air. Then I quickly level Air Magic, getting 15k experience from a quest, and with Summon Air Elemental, I break the Dragon Utopia in the grass treasure zone. They give a Cowl (Cap of the Silenced Stalkers?), Armor 4/4, Hat +5. Tamika gets Intelligence. I collected a couple of Dragon Fly Hives, an external angel dwelling, and stopped to replenish mana. And then the opponent breaks through the dungeon and takes my main.
Day 4 week 1 (?), I take the next Dragon Utopia with just summons, they give Wings (Angel Wings) and the Sword of Justice. Then I flew to the stone treasure zone, there were a couple more Dragon Utopias there; then I managed to reclaim my main, and furthermore I was able to take the opponent's main on the same turn with the "horses" (champions?). Then I got my Tower back, I take the sixth Dragon Utopia... On my turn, the opponent takes everything back and is left in the Tower without the single creatures (the units that guard/are left?). Of course, with magic, having 400 mana, it would have been an easy draw: I would have summoned Earth Elementals and killed everything, and lacking Resurrection and considering the opponent's Shackles of War — both would have died, and then having 100k and 10 extra minutes I would have dug to my heart's content, but all this is fantasy; the opponent has the Cloak of the Undead King equipped and against 17 angels, 40 dragons, and 1400 skeletons, I've got nothing without magic.
Thanks for the games and good luck in the finals.
