Confirmed.
After the restarts, a tough start: Shakti with 1 stack, no pickups at the respawn, on the first day had to fight first 30+ orc sergeants then 30+ marksmen (on the way to the Inferno village and the native secondary town), by the end of the week was left with 2 Manticores, 40 basic Troglodytes, and 4 Evil Eyes, home Manticores in the Citadel. I was thinking of giving up, but Andrey reassured me that his situation wasn't exactly a picnic either. Shakti leveled up well though — Logistics, Earth... I decide to play.
On the second day, I upgrade the Evil Eyes, Troglodytes, Manticores; break a mini Naga Bank, a max Medusa Bank; exit through roadless terrain onto muddy ground, there are Boots, a mini Griffin Conservatory, a stable, a Breastplate +1 to All; painted a Necropolis village.
On the third day, GO wasn't broken — we bypassed it. Skirmishes with scout heroes... Managed to dive into the treasure zone a turn earlier — at least some chance to catch up. Andrey didn't chase after me, started clearing the surroundings. The treasure zone turned out to be so-so — only 40 ducks and a few times they offered skeletons from a box, which I squandered :) At home, I build the Mage Guild in the capital and the secondary town hoping for Armageddon (have Expert Fire), they gave me Water Walk and Executioner :), the secondary has Chain Lightning, Implosion, but at that moment Andrey breaks GO, takes the castle, and cuts off my path back. I go the long way around, the scout heroes evacuate what they managed to grab. At the last moment, I find an Implosion scroll, realize I need to lure Valeska onto me, otherwise she'll reach the secondary town with Implosion and gg. Lure her I did, but the advantage in meat was enormous, and my 40 ducks with the small stuff melted in 2 rounds.
Thanks for the game.