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

bRitvo4kA (blue, Conflux, random, Kyrre) def Lider1 (red, Dungeon, Tazar, Tazar), 2SM4d(3), 225

First hydras spawned at the Citadel. Home and the secondary town had inferno thousands. Broke the guard to the tower respawn, but didn't go there (hoped the Castle would be free, plus it was a pain to trudge through the snow). Took 4 external gnoll dwellings scattered across the respawn.

Happy that hydras spawned, I buy up and run to the treasure zone. (Dragon Utopia on my own respawn with a tree next to it – was inspiring))) 123 took a beehive with 9 dark knights against 8 Wyverns. Then, hoping for loot, I venture deeper. But what bitter disappointment I had when in that treasure zone, besides one tree, there was nothing. Then I also wanted to smash into a horde of gold golems, but forgot to give troops, made a fatal mistake during the fight: I exposed a dragonfly (6 squares instead of seven), and you always need to take a second dragonfly in case of morale (I figured this out later). In short, they rolled over the hydra and 8 Wyverns. Lost tempo and half the army, wanted to just forfeit, but decided to continue anyway. Breakthrough in Inferno on 127

and run on the third week to another treasure zone. On the way, a medusa dwelling on 8.
134 I reach the nearest beehive with 4 wyverns, and right away stupidly lose 4 against Minotaur Kings.
135 Next to it another beehive with 8 wyverns. Was hitting a group of bone dragons, again stupidly took lizards into battle, lost 13 of them ((.
136 Forget about these chests and trees (in the first treasure zone there was only 1 tree total, and in this one probably only 2). Having scouted halfway, I break into the secondary town and run to the Griffin Conservatory.
137 Griffin Conservatory with 2 angels. Break back home.
141 Take the Griffin Conservatory on my own respawn – maximum! hurray.
142 Nearby another one – minimum ((if I had known the treasure zones would be such crap, I would have [damned them] along with those wyverns.)
143 Run to the Dragon Utopia on my own respawn.
144 Tree with 8 wyverns.
145 Dragon Utopia with two stacks. Boots of Levitation, necklace +3 to all, Ambassador’s Sash, and shield +4.
146 Set up a chain, capture the secondary Tower town, break into it with the main hero, scouts scouted 2 beehives and a Dragon Utopia.
147 Minimum and near-minimum beehives (Wanted to take the Dragon Utopia, but no such luck. Over the mountains. Had to run half the respawn through snow without Pathfinding.
211 Break and run on speed artifacts switching dragonflies for gargoyles.
212 Dragon Utopia with three stacks. Sea Captain’s Hat, Medal of Vulnerability, shield +4 old.
213 Run to the blue player’s treasure zone, the edge of a Dragon Utopia is scouted (wondering why they haven’t taken it yet???) Better not to have remembered. I see Kyrre in the treasure zone beating a helmet +12. Run towards him, thinking maybe I’ll meet him before he eats everything there.
214 Murphy’s Law: Ciele also shows up. And apparently for reconnaissance purposes starts surfing the snowy respawn. Just so happens to run into Tazar. And if not for tactics, I would have been buried in snow. In short, even though they didn’t kill me, after that there was no point in playing anymore. Kyrre is feasting in the treasure zone. I have no prospects. My treasure zones were crap. There were Dragon Utopias, but even those were on respawns (with nothing decent in them).
215-224 In short, I await my death, and to not waste time I run to the first treasure zone, take +2 speed (which I was somehow afraid to take in the second), and in the second, the Cloak of Abdication (which I couldn’t reach). I was afraid of his magic. I got it into my head that it would all be equipped on me at once. In short, there were no chances left, I should have surrendered to not drag out the game, but I had hope in Tazar’s specialty. But it didn’t help.
225 I see Kyrre capturing the Tower. Ciele is one square short of capturing the Dungeon. I have a chain home built to both castles. I didn’t really want to meet Ciele. So I decided to go for Kyrre immediately. Capture the Tower with a scout (there were no troops there :D) and Kyrre is right next to it in a square; I break in. And I equipped the Cloak instead of +2 speed. During the fight, it felt like it was actually Kyrre who had the defense specialty, not Tazar, though the stats weren’t much higher. Meat decided it.

For myself in the game with bRitvo4kA I understood these things:

1. To fool neutrals in a treasure zone you need a minimum of 2 dragonflies.
2. Before attacking the main hero, I should have bought a scout and checked for the Sphere (Cloak).
3. I shouldn’t have shown off and should have taken Pathfinding when it was offered. There were Shackles of War, and Kyrre was on speed (though far away); if I had broken through, I could have reached him through the snow. And if I had killed Kyrre, then dealing with Ciele would have been easier (the Cloak, or better yet, Kyrre’s Sphere :D).

In short, thanks for the game and the experience.