In general, we were fairly close, but there was no fierce confrontation. There were no banks, but the neighboring respawns weren't bad; there were money buildings, though quite scattered. I scooped up gold and mercury, exchanged the latter for wood and ore on the second week, and built the Abandoned Palace. I scouted the treader towers and cleared a path into them. Masha was slowly clearing the stone respawn, taking its money buildings, going around it in a circle, when suddenly from a far secondary mine the opponent shows up! Good thing I sent a scout there and spotted him in time. Well, I had Crag Hack a bit leveled up too, already level six, and he knew expert Artillery. I passed him the troops along the chain and holed up in the castle, building Sulfur Clouds there. The opponent didn't attack, and Kiryushka passed by the castle, killed two scouts, and came straight out to Masha — one hex short. I transferred the troops, and in the battle, the devil "lured" and approached the top stack of elves, with eight remaining. We decided not to continue further.
Thanks for the game and auto.