Entering the treasure zone brought КЗ, which provided some room for maneuver. I immediately ran to the center. The noobs were scouting another treasure zone at the time—both are in the screenshots. The center is trash, but I ran there specifically for the speed cloak; it came in handy.
I had to return to an unfinished treasure zone; there was a cap in the Dragon Utopia and a gift in the form of an army on a noob's same-side unit was glowing nearby, even with artifacts.
Basically, the stars aligned:
1. For several turns I wondered which Dragon Utopia to take; the one with boots was much further away, but these seemed more attractive.
2. I could have pulled complete garbage from the 2nd Dragon Utopia, but I got very lucky
3. The opponent moved their army and entered range, which was revealed by the same-side unit's vision.
4. bracers
The autopsy showed a scattering of Dragon Utopias for the opp, but a lack of control, while I had half a week of travel to a treasure zone that was decent in principle. And most likely without any great prospects further on.
Thanks for the game and sorry for the wall of text, it's been a long time since I've been this lucky.:)
Зима 2011-12.