The 8th stage of the annual John Van Caneghem Tournament (2007).

You can still somehow understand them, but when generally recognized strong players end up in such a scam, you have to be surprised... "I won't send the save, because I'm not sure about its quality..." No one has ever been stoned for a bad result... What's the difference?

That's why I always promote the slogan: Participating in a tournament is primary, the result is secondary. Even if you never take a prize-winning place, participating in tournaments and reading discussions and walkthrough descriptions after the tournament will still help you learn to play Heroes better.

Added 11 minutes ago

I agree. Strong players experience this symptom many times more intensely - at this point, they lose virtual honor and respect.:) They want to maintain their level.

I disagree that even if a strong player starts playing worse, they will lose respect :) Honor - maybe yes. But maybe it just means that others have significantly raised their level of play and become the leaders. But how did they raise their level of play, if not by looking at the walkthroughs of the former leader? And the reluctance of strong players to participate because of the fear of getting into trouble... I always remember the movie "An Ordinary Miracle" where Leonov played the king-satrap :) There was a Hunter, and he had a student. The student asked the hunter to go hunting, but he refused. He said - what if I miss! There will be a lot of talk afterwards :) Something like that. When going to a tournament, you need to think like this: The main thing is that I play for the sake of the game itself - and the result and place will be seen later :)

Added 7 minutes ago

And don't even get me started... I completely messed up: I decided to attack the Rust Dragons, and I didn't develop diplomacy at all. The result is 37 days:(

Wow, that's a great result. I don't understand how you completed it in that many days WITHOUT DIPLOMACY! It would be interesting if all the participants in the tournament posted information about which troops (type and quantity) they used to defeat the key guards guarding the computer opponent.

Added 8 minutes ago

Dmitry has shocked us again. For me, 14 days is the same as completing it in three days.

Didn't FireBall shock you? :) He's doing great, thinking outside the box and proving it again and again in the tournament with his walkthroughs.
P.S. A request to the leaders (FireBall, vbn, Dmitry A.S., Radik). Those who recruited Gargon, please post your saves (immediately before recruiting) on the forum. And those who didn't recruit him, but defeated them with something else - I want to see the save immediately before attacking the Rust Dragons. I think the other participants in the tournament will also be interested in seeing such saves.

Added 3 minutes ago

I looked at the results table!
My applause to our leaders, I thought 14 days was a lot...and here's what happenedI'm going to dry my socks...

:) Why socks right away? Where were your pants? :) Just kidding :)

Added 11 minutes ago

2 snake riders, 5 lizards, 2 gnolls, and a ballista

Is that true? :) Fire, were the thieves running around the snake riders? I'm also interested in what troops you used to defeat the vampires. And the save immediately before attacking the large group of Dragons. Well, a non-standard walkthrough is cool! ;)

Added 5 minutes ago

All the vampires joined for money.

What do you need to do for them to join for money, besides money? Does the composition of your army matter at this point?

Added 1 minute ago

I see that they are with Gurnisson - but how did they get there, you need money to recruit them!!!

What are "funds"?????????????????????????????

Added 5 minutes ago

Great job, Fireball!
Congratulations on the victory, and what a victory!
VBN - also good!
You both - a description.
How can you not love this game!!!!

It seems that you also need a description, even if it's short :)
Congratulations to the leaders on their excellent results!
And thank you to all the participants in the tournament who, one way or another, made it to the finish line, for their will and perseverance ;)

Added 16 minutes ago

Description of the "I and my shadow" scenario

vbn! Excellent description. But could you add a little more to it, indicating what troops the Diplomat has when he recruits additional troops for free or for money.

Added 7 minutes ago

So, the scouting played a crucial role here.

I haven't looked at the saves yet, I can't at work. But I'm already interested - how many vampires do you need in your army to kill 20 Rust Dragons? The battle tactic is probably to have the vampires huddle in a corner. Then they can only be attacked by two slots of Rust Dragons, three each - right?

Added 16 minutes ago

I understand you. Gorgons are powerful. When you need to kill something big and scary, the first thought is always about them.

Well, and Vampires are also good when you need to kill something big and scary, BUT SLOWLY :) I, like vbn, didn't think about vampires precisely because I thought there wouldn't be enough of them for the Rust Dragons and didn't even check :( And therefore, all efforts were focused on finding the right hero (by the way, an interesting point - the main hero is different for most participants :) with the skills of diplomacy + navigation + logistics or pathfinding. In this regard, Fireball had it easier when searching for a hero - he didn't need navigation at all, as he decided to go by land, having previously checked the option with vampires regarding the possibility of winning key battles with the Dragons.

But we're not in favor there. There's one Iron favorite.

I'm already tired of the end of the tournament. I have a ton of Iron - it was hard to run :) So, maybe you'll still be lucky in stage 9.

Added 5 minutes ago

but the main thing is not in this, but in the fact that I started late... it's funny to sit all night and play a knowingly bad option.

I don't see anything funny :) Well, if there was no other option. I also understood that my chosen main hero was not the right one, but I didn't have time to dig deeper. And I also hammered out a walkthrough, knowing that it was not the best. But I had to create at least some kind of final save and manage to meet the deadline.