If someone wants to cheat with the new restriction, nothing prevented them from doing so before, only with different restrictions (and simply skipping intermediate battles), because not everything is caught even now.

Right now, we are discussing changes to the rules, aren't we? But what's the point of making rules that will initially contain loopholes for military tricks/cheating:
1. Should the organizer indicate which battles he considers key before the start of the tournament?
2. Does this mean that each intermediate battle should be played without losses by default?
3. Should a "traffic light" system be used for all battles?
If yes, then for each non-key battle, it will be necessary to check the "traffic light" to avoid getting extra resources or morale, which could be quite annoying for anyone.
If not, then nothing will prevent players from continuing to exploit morale in non-key battles.

And what exactly is a non-key battle? Is a battle against a single Conservator a non-key battle? It depends on what army I'm using to attack!!! The same applies to dividing battles into long/short. And this approach should be applied to each battle.

But if a cheater takes a high place, they will be asked to provide a walkthrough and description. So, those who want to cheat will have to aim for mediocre places.

The 4Sale tournament, organized by Grjaznyy Igrok, gathered 24 participants, which was an excellent result. I also participated in offline tournaments for the first time. Not everyone was fighting for victory in the tournament. Getting into the top ten is also very respectable. Changes to the rules should eliminate the use of cheats in all "competitive groups" and not lead to a decline in interest in the top three.