12.02.2012 Tomash (blue, stronghold, Gundula, Gundula) def Dogbas (red, rampart, Mephala, Mephala) Jebuss Cross, 145

It turned out to be a very long game. First, we used up all the restarts. I got chocolate twice with 2 external bear dens near the castle, once my opponent took a respawn, once I charged off to hit a Pandora's Box of 90+ mummies, didn't spread out well, the ballista couldn't hold up, the curse on the goblins and no one's going anywhere... a loss, took 112

In the end, it gave both of us complete trash. I had 1 Dragon Fly Hive, an external dwelling of bears, goblins, wolves, and a Dragon Utopia. That's it, no more objects on the respawn. Literally.

In the first week, I upgraded the hounds, took a 20-stack of dwarves, barely squeezed in the bears, took the external dwelling. On the positive side, in the skeletons I found traveler's gloves and boots, a +4 hat, +1 all stats body armor. GO of 50-99 unicorns, didn't want to go in without oil... Gundula is leveling with 5+ skills: logistics, air, armor, earth; truth be told, because of this abundance, offense remained basic... Bears in the castle.

In the second week, I found a Pandora's Box deep in the respawn; the minotaurs went mindless - minus 20 dogs, +15k experience, expert air, logistics, wisdom; offense didn't even advance... Checked the Dragon Utopia - a small one, decided to take it on day 131. While I was messing around on the respawn, I built a Wyvern dwelling in the swamp secondary hero; the only Dragon Fly Hive turned out to be for 6 :( .... I'm clearing for experience all the guards I can reach, and with expert logistics and a set of boots+gloves, I could reach almost everything...

On day 131, I lost everything except the bears; I take the Dragon Utopia on day 2, a Gladius of +12 attack and heresy... but that was enough. I upgrade the bears, mass haste, attack over 20, Gundula, even without oil, cuts down the GO without losses. Immediately a Dragon Fly Hive, again a small one, a Naga Bank; I move everything further into the center; air scouts show that the opponent hasn't even approached his GO. Calmly I take a couple more Dragon Fly Hives, all small as luck would have it, Pandora's Boxes for experience and 15k gold; I bring up the swamp meat, take 2 more Dragon Utopias, again a Gladius, a +4 +4 hat, Orb of Inhibition, Cloak of Undeath; seems useful, but the stats are far from uber, and it doesn't give control :confused:

Only at the end of the week, on the ground, behind a laughable guard, I find Wings; a few more Dragon Fly Hives; a Dragon Utopia with a +4 all stats shield, +2 all stats boots, Sphere of Vulnerability (not so useless, if we assume the opponent has dragons), Sphere of Earth, Water... From a prison, I free Tiraxos of level 30, expert attack, tactics, logistics, pathfinding... but not a single magic school - not suitable for serious fights.

Again on the ground, behind Fairy Dragons that fled, I take the Air Book, a +5 all stats sword. The last skills gave me tactics and water; I wasn't against it. The treasure zone was almost exhausted; the artifacts seemed decent; I have the Cloak of Undeath, mass haste, mass slow, mass cure, and mass bless; I decided it was time to wrap things up. Out of 10 Dragon Fly Hives, I managed to gather only 59 Wyverns...

On day 141, I upgrade them in the swamp, bring in the bear growth; on the way, I take the Water Book and charge towards my opponent through his still-uncleared GO. On day 145, the meeting; Mephala, without leaving the respawn, gathered 77 Wyverns; her stats were worse but decent; Gold Dragons, a level 5 hat, Earth and Fire books...

The finale was tense; I doubted for a long time whether to wear the red ball or the cloak. In the end, I decided that having 3 expert magic schools with mass spells of levels 1-2, the cloak is more profitable, especially since with the Sphere of Water my bolt hit for 900+

In the end, the opponent had only oil, and blind. I didn't reveal my mass water, and responded to his blind with oil, to the second blind I responded with mass haste; he believed in his blind and went forward, revealing his formations; in the end, when I used mass cure, my troops were under haste, his under oil; plus, 2 rounds of his magic went to waste...

The Wyverns hit, the bears hit; they went mindless and hit again... In the end, out of 77 enemy Wyverns, 13 remained; the dragons stood pinned down by Dendroid Guards from the Pandora's Box; 96 elves dealt laughable damage even with no melee penalty; 14 horses looked warily at the bears, knowing they were next in line for annihilation... The opponent writes GG

A long game, strange respawns; I doubt I could have played significantly better; I didn't lose the bears; earth wasn't given on the first week, so exiting to the center on day 132 was inevitable...

Although the opponent had few decent external dwellings, he had a bunch of Dragon Fly Hives; IMO, if he had better timed their capture in a chain, starting with the weakest guard, he could have exited to the center in the middle of the second week, and then it would have been a completely different game... :smile14:

In any case, thanks for the game; although starting from the middle of the 3rd week, when I got the red ball and the cloak, and the opponent sat on his respawn, I believed I would win; but the finale frayed my nerves considerably