FB-3

I decided to play to my heart's content in this tournament against strong opponents. I offer a best-of-three (two wins) to anyone who has the time. After all, a series of games should eliminate the factor of randomness — if not completely eliminate it, then at least smooth it out ;).

Round 5
Javdet vs Piterius 2-0

10.08.10Javdet (red, Castle, Valeska, Cuthbert) def Piterius (blue, Conflux, Monere, Monere), 8mm6a, 143, WT

I traded a castle for 1400 and sold a color for 900.
On day one I split into 7 heroes, took a crypt with 5 vampires, an external dwelling of Pixies, I see an external dwelling of air elementals, a Griffin Conservatory near the castle behind a Pit Lord stack.
In theory there are many of them there since they guard a chest, gold, a campfire, and a bunch of wood. The mines are free, there are two paths, I see the edge of a Hive on one of them. How lucky that Roma had already chosen all the rest, I thought :).
112 Moneres take an external fire dwelling along a very long path upward, further on there's snow and a fork, in the middle of which a horde of vampires guards a prison, blocking the passage. I go through the snow with the pope, since Tsila on the other end of the respawn in the very corner of the map shows a passage to the subway behind a Lizard stack — and the guard is unpleasant, and the direction is unpromising.
113 passage to dirt with a max pack of vampires, further on there's again a bunch of directions, one of them leads back to snow — damn, where did I end up?
114 a Castle village, I realize I celebrated too early and should have taken the rest, the roads are long, the money ran out quickly, I spot an observatory on my own respawn and redirect my chain there, hoping to see part of the snow where there's a path. This could easily be the Tower — the opponent's computer, since there are no more Towers on the map!!!
115 the observatory shows a piece of the white respawn and a piece of green, at the transition a brown noob is collecting resources! Just as I thought, that's the red computer's area, what a generation... I run around the horde of vampires who knows where through the snowy off-road, there's absolutely nothing to do in the center for now!
On 117 I jump into an Inferno citadel, the Pit Fiends are unrecruited there, but the downside is that further on is a dead end. That is, either towards Roma, or into the corner of the map.
At home, the Beholders in the citadel are barely there, there's no money anywhere!!!
On the second, Roma appeared with 10-19 ducks and cut off my exit to the world. I had to go into the Conservatory with an under-leveled Monere on 124 — a three with an upgraded one, I left Fire Elementals, Earth Elementals, and a Beholder there...
I go into the corner, nothing can be done. Even though Roma later told me I should have pushed the center, I had nothing and no way to push it.
The corner turned out to be a dead-end village, no Hives or Conservatories, I found a max Dragon Utopia — hung around there until 141, brought in my army, no control was given — I went to surrender...

28.08.10Javdet (red, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti\Marusya) def Piterius (blue, Fortress, Broghild, Broghild), 8mm6a, 143, WT

In the second game the situation was similar, but not with the money — this time it wasn't Roma that cut me off, but the generator. Because of the sunken central respawn, I was squeezed into a corner with only two paths — to the computer and to a village. There was also a Dragon Utopia in the adjacent zone, and it gave me salvation — a Water Magic book.
I developed very well, had enough money, on the second day I gathered 8 Angels, took an external dwelling of horses, and they were also in the captured citadel from the first.
But even though there was a chance to pull through, I made a key mistake. Right after the Dragon Utopia on 131 I jumped with the pope to the village (I didn't know it was a dead end), but I should have jumped to the Hives that Roma had mentioned. In the end, one day of lost momentum decided the outcome — Roma kept appearing where I tried to break out and didn't give me a chance to turn things around. The lack of mana decided the FFs, I spent two days getting to the Dragon Utopias in the center, and they were already in his sights. So I had to buy my way out and jump blindly. In the end I guessed wrong and jumped back to the reds.
By the way, I really thought Shakti had Town Portal-ed himself home after taking a clue and therefore didn't enter it :). Later I looked at the saves — at that moment, neither side had any control.

Unpleasant generation #1.

Thanks for the games!