That's how it was. :)
I spawned up top; at first glance it wasn't bad, but after running around I realized there were few prospects. On the first week, the only useful thing was an external dwelling of medusas; near the castle there's an external dwelling of cats, but it's guarded by almost 50 medusas, which also guard a Pandora's Box (no way to take it on the first week with my setup). No income buildings, one secondary (snow) behind the Greater Lizards — a real mess overall. My opponent had a native secondary and 2 external dwellings of dragons; if I'd known that, I'd probably have been completely upset, but as it was, my hand didn't tremble — I slowly developed.
On the second week, I got a log, earth magic, experted Tactics, break through the lizards, and captured the tower. The snow turned out to be quite rich: 2 max-level crypts, 2 medusa dens, a Level 3 Griffin Conservatory.
At the start of the third week, I bring upgraded eyes, medusas, take the Griffin Conservatory, dive into the underground, and there's a chest with 10000 XP — I had to take Leadership and Fire Magic :)
Then Kyrre came to visit me; I fend her off without trouble, but 8 dragons indicate that even after fleeing, Valentina has room to maneuver. I captured the external dwelling of cats, then found another one in the very corner, upgraded them. I take the Dragon Utopia; all the Troglodytes were sacrificed, but it yielded a Chalice and Gladius.
In short, by the time Kyrre settled in my capital, I had all level 4 spells, but almost no mana left. I rushed to take back the capital on turn 217 — attacked, and there I got hit with Slow and Meteor Shower — no shame whatsoever! Didn't even manage to flee, and it's pointless to run when the opponent has a growth of 6 dragons the next day. :smile05:
Thanks for the game! It was instructive.