Reports on online games and their confirmations (Winter 2009 season).

bRitvo4kA (blue, inferno, Pyr, Ignat) def KostyaN (red, swamp, Bron, Bron), 2SM4d(3), 222
One of the unluckiest games. Pyr without Ballista, the poorest respawn. I lose almost all my troops on the pre-maximum nagabank. Lucky that my opponent gave me time to recover.

Thanks to Kostya for the game!

Confirmed! I was satisfied with Bron, but I am 100000% to blame for the loss. And I will NOT play on 4-minute turns anymore (I forgot that Andrey sets it to 4 by default, and didn't ask for 6:( ).

It probably wouldn't be nice of me to complain about the map layout - the only reasons to nitpick said layout: central respawn, slow roads, and as always, when I pick Swamp - undead in the tavern:smile04:. But there were 5 peasants from the start, right? There were - so it's fine, no excuses:) !
111-112. only 12 lizards and unupgraded - and I, fool, found a witch hut with Archery - and was happy:smile33:, busily breaking Bron's perfectly innocent tree:D (mistake #1); 4 heroes, scouted Dwarf Cottage, Crypt, external Wyvern dwelling behind a horde of archers - so far, like in a museum: just looking, not touching; due to the beeping - which I'm unaccustomed to after several games on 6-minute turns - I don't have time to rearrange the last 2 stacks for the main hero's initiative (mistake #2, repeated once or twice this same week:o )
113. 5th hero buying 4 peasants - total 9; scouted a passage to the grass zone behind a double but manageable guard (up to 20 pigs, and behind them the same number of mages), not attacking immediately - mistake #3; there's the same number of orcs guarding a grail pillar and blocking a path - if I had broken through them, the guard for the passage to my native secondary town would have been visible ahead:mad: - "If I'd known where I'd fall, I'd have laid down straw..."; I go to explore my own respawn further...
114-115. Crypt, external Gnoll dwelling, external Basilisk dwelling, cleared from 34 lizards - only 8 of mine left:( , but the main stack already numbers 13 heads:cool:; but: 1 hero on a centaur - in a swamp:smile54: , and another one even has zombiesmistake #4:smile05: - makes you want to cry, such saves!!!
116. +1 hero from a prison guarded by another 45 lizards - native one, lucky:) , even if only level 1.
117. one main hero - human - on a fly upgraded, the rest on whatever, 2 on gnolls for some reason:smile26:; scouted a second passage to the grass zone behind a horde of gogs - why didn't I attack anything? - mistake #5; but ducks with crocodiles will give double growth tomorrow in the capital - that's encouraging.

121-122. Crypt, Dwarf Cottage, external Wyvern dwelling put to use;); +2 heroes.
123. took shooters to upgrade, and while they're trudging along the slow roads, a scout hero kills the orcs and takes a +2/2 sword from 50 boars, losing only 3-4 units - and those were others anyway:D .
124. finally managed to break through the pegasi and mages, even without heavy losses:rolleyes: and immediately took a Crypt on the new respawn, got Earth Magic.
125. killed 50 neutral peasants, heavily damaging my own army, of course... 9th level - took Tactics, Earth Magic advanced - and it stayed that way until the end of the game :eek:; secondary town - Castle, nearby external dwelling of swordsmen and cavaliers (which those peasants were guarding, among other junk and the passage) - why didn't I clear it immediately - dunno, mistake #6; external market visible:smile12: .
126. very sluggishly clear the grass respawn without Logistics and on slow roads:( ; and here is the dumbest and most critical mistake, which cost me the game - the scout hero scouted (behind a passage guard, by the way, to my native secondary town) - BOOTS OF SPEED, if I had stopped screwing around and rushed there immediately, that alone would have been 90% victory on these roads - given my external dwellings; but I thought: boots are just boots - they won't run anywhere:smile04: - and as a result, in the 2nd month, the opponent's main hero put them on and with expert Logistics - this mistake is SO DUMB, it counts as two (MISTAKE #7 and 8).

Okay, enough searching for my mistakes today, I could easily find another couple of dozen... But time to sleep:) . I'll write more later if I'm in the mood, because honestly, as I wrote to Andrey in ICQ - you could write a textbook "How NOT to Play".

Continuing: in case there are other newbies like me who read this - they might find it useful:rolleyes:, and experienced players can at least have a laugh:) .

127. Bron, upgraded to fly at the end of the day, is sent to the nagabank "forgotten" on my own respawn - why was this minimal thing never taken until the end of the game? another question for my playing level (mistake #9); meanwhile, the army only had left: 9 lizards, 37 gnolls, 4 wyverns, and 16 basilisks - depressingly losing troops(((((.

131-132. turned off the correct path to the nagabank and broke through 80 gogs for another passage from my native respawn.
133. on the new respawn, I only managed to kill the weak guard of a couple of chests, and reaching the secondary town was prevented by blue scout heroes appearing from a completely different direction - a whole brood (and you remember this playstyle - moving a big pack around the main hero: provides both scouting and guaranteed initiative, and the chief doesn't bother with small fry;) ; on the other hand, of course, you can kill them all immediately under favorable circumstances - but see point one about scouting and don't worry about it:cool: ); by the way, the "wrong scout" from the first week (with zombies and other undead) discovered these saboteurs - I was happy, wanted to catch them all there, but on their turn, blue gathered their forces and kicked him back to the tavern:( .
134. Bron is split into the secondary town and with all my might falls short - as always happens with all noobs - one step short of the first enemy cockroach; yet another seemingly not so rough mistake that cost me the game: didn't check their strongest hero in the tavern - if I had known it was Ignat, left with only a horde of magogs after being wiped at the nagabank, and clearly visible on the horizon - I would have taken the capital without even thinking, even with my 8 wyverns, 40+ lizards, almost 30 basilisks, etc. (mistake #10 - always check the tavern!).
135-137. my main, instead of diving into the scouted portal from which this blue plague came into my lands, started, like an idiot, chasing 2 scout heroes that seemed dangerous to me (Pyr was among them...); built hydras for some reason, which was strangely a rough mistake in this game - better spent that 10k gold on buying units; didn't build a magistrate for +2000 in any of the towns (in short, three mistakes at once #11, 12, 13); and the funniest thing - this chase for the skirmishers prevented my commander from leveling up! was afraid...:o

141. I only have 5 heroes left - the rest were caught by the enemy:mad:; the main hero runs around this semi-treasure grass zone (VERY many artifacts scattered, but guards don't seem particularly tough) and boxes in 2 blue heroes.
142-144. ate 2 scholars (the tree is already broken anyway - no big deal:D ) - gave surprisingly useful things: +1 Knowledge and basic Offense, and finally 2 enemy skirmishers:smile42: , freed Rion level 10 from the moral scummm with whips:mad:; the enemy scouts unintentionally led me into the treasure zone:) , only found a bowstring so far.
145-147. treasure zone - lousy:smile48: , various sea-related artifacts behind brutal guards (I still don't even have Slow:smile21: ), among the decent stuff - a bunch of junk behind 20+ Naga Queens, after which I was left with only 55 shooters, 5 wyverns and 20 basilisks (breastplate, hat and +5% bow) - going into a Dragon Utopia with such "real" guys isn't worth it:( , and there are two of them there.

In short, I wasted the beginning of the next week there too without proper leveling (the fastest units left were ducks with speed 7, and I was jumping over rocks anyway) - this is mistake #14 , I should have split up and properly farmed the respawn for gold, of which I had none:(.
216. a blue chain appeared from the direction of my secondary town that never became mine - urgently split to the capital, exchange all resources for zero at the external market - but still can't buy out everything, not enough, however the assault on my native castle should be held - Andrey disappoints me and goes to my human secondary town.
217. I garrison Rion in the secondary town with 40 why-are-they-still-unupgraded archers (mistake #15), a bunch of pokemon and 22 crusaders - upgraded them by mistake on one of my turns, meant to build griffins I think:o ...

221. In short... I lose the secondary town... then a scout with 2 wyverns and 4 basilisks (all from external dwellings) can't take a neutral Rampart secondary town (there were already 10 pegasi, 10 elves + others sitting there) - my morale finally drops:( :mad: :smile35: . To top it all off - Ignat reaches the scout hero with the main forces, who was hiding in the grass - I surrender immediately, as I was counting on at least a troop merge; after the autosave and reunification offered by Andrey - I still lose due to the deficit in meat and a couple of the dumbest, most childish mistakes (he slowed my 5 hydras, and I healed - not waiting for their turn to start, and so 3 times, they were useless - mistake #16).
In a word, 16 mistakes prevented me from gaining the upper hand in an absolutely winning game for me:D ! Anyone just starting to play, read and learn better from my mistakes - than later from your own;) !!!!
Thanks for the game....