ooppss
Auto-translated
06.08.2017 MicroElf (red, Stronghold, Gunnison) def ooppss (blue, Fortress, Tazar) Diamond, 114.
I got a crappy respawn in the center, but I had a good starting army, there were roads and convenient guards + Dessa showed up. I decided to play. In 2 days I managed to take 4 villages, but it was hard to figure out where to develop next. I could only hope for the last unbroken direction. However, I never found out what was waiting for me there; the legendary orange computer defeated my opponent. It happens ;-)
Added after 2 minutes
07.08.2017 MicroElf (red, Fortress, Tazar, Galthran) def ooppss (blue, Conflux, Kalt, Shakti) Diamond, 132.
The start was expected to be slow, but there were roads and Galthran showed up. I decided not to take the last restart, since the respawn was on the edge and didn't look poor. On the first week I failed to take the villages and properly clear the respawn; I moved straight to the computer. My opponent had a similar situation. After taking a Minotaur external dwelling on the opponent's respawn, I felt like a hero and attacked a bunch of Royal Griffins, where I lost both a Wyvern and a couple of Minotaurs, barely surviving. However, I got lucky, and in that refuge there was a Hydra.
At the end of the week I made a huge blunder: I traded for 10k, built a Castle, found Sulfur, and forgot to build Vessel dwellings. As a result, I missed out on 3 Hydras, which fundamentally changed the later situation. I got upset and went to squander those savings – I built a Portal in the Dungeon, forgetting that I had taken the Gnoll external dwelling at the start. Those Gnolls kept coming for 2 weeks.
Nevertheless, I still took the Dragon Fly Hive along the way, even if I fed the last Minotaurs to it. On day 117 the opponent came to my main with a small army. I was at a loss – Galthran couldn't reach them, I couldn't attack with a delivery due to the red rush, and I didn't dare to use my scout hero. And I was wrong; I could have won. After that, he quickly took everything, capturing a strategic overlook over a large part of my respawn.
At the start of the second week, I overestimated my strength and gave up a Hydra and 3 Wyverns in a fight for a good but non-critical artifact. I boosted my stats even more, but it wasn't worth it. I had to replan and postpone clearing a fat chunk for later, as I realized I couldn't handle it. From the Tavern I could see my opponent was struggling, so I decided to attack from an invisible zone with a running start.
On day 125 I take my opponent's starting town without a fight, but I see he has moved to the computer's Castle. I understand the army there is weaker now and I need to seize the moment. I managed to handle the forks correctly and capture my opponent's town on day 127. Simultaneously, I pushed through with scout heroes into other zones, cleared my own respawn, boosted my income, and fully built up my main.
I didn't bother chasing my opponent. At the start of the week, I took the Dragon Fly Hive he hadn't fully cleared, built a chain, and broke Galthran through to the fat chunk. However, I didn't manage to clear it – a surrender followed. Thanks for the game.
In the case with Tazar, everything was great. I just went and expertized Log, had a lot of Lizardmen, and by day 114 was already bringing the Bible to Taz. But out of foolishness, I ran into the Tower computer with a ton of meat; the first hero, with five stacks, wiped out the Gnoll remnants and a couple of Lizardmen. And the second hero caught up to me on the snow and ravaged the rest of the army. Morale didn't let me buy my way out; in short, I screwed up a good situation.
In the case with Conflux, I got 2 Water Elementals, curse them… But also Shakti with 2 stacks, the roads were good, there was a stable, and I broke through passages in 3 directions. I decided to play. By day 112 I already had a stack of 15 Water Elementals. After spending the Troglodytes, I broke through to the Castle computer on day 114, capturing the Castle. On the respawn there was an external marketplace; I decided to skip building Phoenixes and go for Angels instead. I overestimated my strength and didn't have enough resources, but I dug up an external dwelling of Marksmen. I also found a passage to my opponent's respawn and moved my army to crush him. I was a few tiles short + this maniac built a Castle, and on day 121, with Sorcery and Demer, he locked himself in the Castle. Storming it was stupid; I pulled out my troops and went to try to take Dragon Fly Hives. I had 28 Marksmen and Conflux meat for fodder. I spent a day breaking through 3 Dragon Fly Hive guards until I found the minor one, then I took the second on day 8 of the Bible. By this time my opponent had taken Conflux and was moving towards the Castle. I couldn't manage to take the major Dragon Fly Hive; I left it hoping he would think it was taken and wouldn't check it.
I went into the treasure zone, hoping to find either meat or artifacts. The treasure zone was poor and small, and my opponent checked the major Dragon Fly Hive and took it.
I decided to surrender, since he also had sight of the entire map while I had very few outs left.
Thanks for the games.