Reports on online games and their confirmations (Spring 2008 season).

Paladin@heroes.by(red,Stronghold,Tiraxor,Tiraxor) def Neoandy(blue,Tower,Neela,Neela), 2sm4d(3),137

this season

we played SoD
Great game. Called "Battle at the foot of the DRAGON UTOPIA." or "Super-artifacts are a myth and utopia, but reality is a fight, sometimes a brawl."

Yes, it was both fun and sad. Great start - spotted an external dwelling of gigs near 20-49 diamond golems, the heroes in the tavern gave a ballista and a tent, and near the castle I bought a war wagon! I captured +3 spell power, break through a teleport to the surface - it gives Earth magic and by week 1 day 1 I already have expert Earth ready to take the external dwelling behind any number of any golems. But then money became a tight squeeze. The path to the surface was blocked by 9 psychos guarding a tree, and the other secondary zone was swampy and there wasn't much free stuff for noobs there. To build Nagas in the Stronghold and buy a Titan, Neela had to grind for 2 days in the swamp on a serpent. The first week went great and I even got Tactics - well, I thought - hold on, Paladin! The sneaky plan was to attack with Mass Slow and shoot them down; if anyone got through, 7 gigs on week 3 would give them a solid whack. We saved. But the next day the game went bad - my head was aching, but I still wanted to play. I killed the psychos, took the tree - only 4 ducks' worth, then a human secondary zone - the noobs barely found the Celestial Eye which finally showed the path to the treasury, since the revealed entrance in the swamps wasn't appealing. And then a Dragon Utopia appeared - I looked at my stats - too weak; there was an entrance to a cave nearby - I thought, maybe I can level up a bit there or get some artifact + bring more golems to the Dragon Utopia and in 2-3 weeks we'll crack it. Meanwhile, Solmyr went scouting upward and revealed movement of red noobs from the other side of the bushes - and by an amazing coincidence, the boss was covered by the only dark spot - I decided the noobs were gathering resources on their territory and I had 1 day to scout. Neela, with 7x15 mighty Liches, captures the sword+5 all artifacts almost without losses - just what's needed for the Dragon Utopia. But then time runs out and I don't manage to get there. Because of this, on the next turn I'm 2-3 tiles short of the Dragon Utopia and I stop to rest on what seemed like safe territory. But Tiraxor, with expert Logistics, a stable, and Boots of Speed, reaches almost tile-for-tile with Neela, though he was aiming for the Dragon Utopia. The Fly spell was lost, but 2 Angels survived the hit from 3 Bears and allowed me to retreat - I didn't even have money to buy back - I spent it all on the Dragon Utopia. Here I make mistake #1, as if someone turned on a timer for Neela's escape and, afraid not to make it in time, I don't check the opponent's speed artifacts. The lack of Mass Haste cheered me up, and I buy Neela back in the castle hoping to take a detour to the well and attack Tiraxor, but alas, we had no stable and didn't get Logistics, so that trick didn't work - I calculated: 13 spell power, 7 mana - enough for Mass Slow twice or Slow and Shield (mages in the army) - I think, I won't go for the Dragon Utopia - it might be junk - I'll just thin out the troops - mistake #2 - I somehow didn't think about the value of money in a hurry. I attack - and haha - Angels move first - speed 15! And mana 84, the Marksmen were immediately covered at the cost of their own lives by the Angels; then luckily I didn't block 5 Nagas and got cover for the Marksmen from 5 regular and 4 upgraded ones. Then came the choice of Mass Shield or Haste on the Giants - I think I made the right call by hasting them; they cut down 2.5 Bears and 9 Thunderbirds and also delayed Wyverns and Ogres. The Marksmen shot as much as they could, but the single Hastes on the red side sped up the breach of the 5-Naga screen, and I had to retreat with 3 Marksmen. If I'd had mana, maybe I could have driven the reds off. Well, after that - no money, only hope from income +2000 and gig growth +4 per week. In the reserve corner there was a respawning external dwelling of Mages, which came in handy after the shooters died. I decide to take it, and there was a passage to the red secondary zone, and on the next turn it all ended - I didn't bother buying back. As the treasury reveal on the barbarians' home turf showed, even with Wings they would have decided things in their favor. Too bad the psychos slowed down scouting - otherwise it could have been oh so different.

Thanks for the interesting game!