SOD vs TE

I would be grateful if a TE-light specialist could explain here what exactly it offers.

That's exactly why this thread is opened here — to find out and share experiences on what's available, not to argue with each other.

At the Moscow qualifier, I watched how people arrange their troops in SoD — I felt sorry for the guys, so much time spent on unproductive clicks, even with Lighter.

1) Quick split buttons for single units. Maybe I'm spoiled already, but I simply can't play without them. And there are many other useful buttons for troop arrangement in general.

Let's consider a typical task — stack 1 has 20 archers, stack 2 has 40 pokemons. You need to split them into 20-18-18-1-1-1-1.

SoD — first, we spend time on splitting singles using the combination "click on stack, shift-click on slot, click on arrow or press 1, click OK". Then the same for the main stack, but here you also need to aim the mouse at the middle of the line or type 18 with the number keys (not forgetting to do the division in your head).

Total — 20 actions, many of which require aiming, and a misclick (or mouse glitch) leads to needing extra clicks to correct the error. Time depends on click speed, and it's significant — players took from 10 to 20 seconds.

TE — ctrl-click on the pokes, click on slot 3, click on slot 2, ctrl-alt-shift-click on slot 2. Total 4 clicks, and the time per individual click is less, simply because the mouse doesn't dart back and forth across the screen but stays near the slot area. The whole sequence can be done in one or two seconds, at most 3 if you're slow.

If we take a simpler arrangement like 20-1-35-1-1-1-1, it can be done in just 2 clicks. And simply splitting off singles to replace those lost in battle is just one click, and you don't even need to open the hero screen for that.

Another task — when heroes meet, transfer 2-3 stacks (not the whole army). In SoD, it takes 2 clicks per stack, with the mouse flying across the entire screen, reducing speed and accuracy. In TE — one click per stack, with the mouse staying near just one row of slots, allowing you to click through all stacks in a linear sequence. I estimate the time difference to be about 4-6 times.

There are a few more situations, but they are slightly less critical.

2) There is a way to see exactly how many moves are left.

In SoD, you practically have to set up chains by eye. Sometimes you have a little left, and you wonder whether you'll reach your destination on a curved path or not.

In TE, you can see the number of moves and calculate. I've long wondered how people play without such an important feature. They set chains with a buffer, use heroes on chains excessively, and still regularly mess up. Obviously, all this doesn't affect the game pace for the better.

3) When passing the turn, the timer doesn't start ticking until the turn is received.

A very useful thing, especially if you've stepped away somewhere. Or if you're playing on two computers (which happened in Moscow on the last day) — in SoD, you have to start the second game without time control and constantly glance at the first screen. That is, you can't run the finish of another game (started with a timer) in parallel.

4) Not to mention such useful things as a chess timer, setting road types, removing boots of levitation, as well as all future goodies — anti-cheat, simultaneous turns, replays, etc.

As for installation, you only need to spend time once — sit down and figure out what goes where, and there are detailed instructions and online help via ICQ for that. And that time will be paid back many times over by reducing the time spent on the game or increasing its quality.