25.02.2012 Sanin (red, Rampart, Ivor, Ivor) loses to COLORADО (blue, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti) 2sm4d(3) 243

At first, the opponent re-rolled my layout with two external dwellings of horses, but the next layout turned out to be even more interesting. Upon leaving the castle, I discovered an external dwelling of dragons behind a mountain, but it wasn't clear yet how to approach it or if it was on my respawn. Next to the dragons' external dwelling were external dwellings of centaurs and dwarves. But that wasn't all! Then I found another external dwelling of dwarves and an external dwelling of elves, and the following week I would find yet another external dwelling of centaurs. That's six external dwellings on the respawn in total. From the scouting view, I saw a Griffin Conservatory, saw the Legs of the Legion, saw many banks. But the dragons didn't join on the first week, and getting to the external dwelling turned out to be very difficult — the detour around the mountains was very long, so I hid the external dwelling. Furthermore, the passage there was blocked by 70 steel golems guarding a Pandora's Box and another Griffin Conservatory. Trying to force events, on day 116 I attempted to break through them with Rylond and lost. The opponent gave me auto. The next day I still broke through with Ivor, losing almost everything except 15 elves. I didn't manage to reach any of the three far-off external dwellings. The Pandora's Box contained 10k experience. The Griffin Conservatory was strong. In the town, levels 1-6 in the citadel plus growth for dwarves.

On the second week, I bought Jenova (who would later level up Expert Logistics), bought out troops, combined troops. I took the dwarf dwelling, checked the other Griffin Conservatory — it was also strong, but with a grail. On day 126, a chain of eight heroes was formed, during which Girda took the dwarf dwelling, Dragon took the max medusa dwelling, Ivor broke the triple Griffin Conservatory (here for the first time I didn't buy all the dwarves, didn't have enough meat shield, and the opponent gave me auto again. The second time, with 30 dwarves, I took it), troops were passed to Jenova, who on day 127 took the dragons' external dwelling. In the town, dragons in the castle. There was an external market, with which everything was built up. All secondary towns were far away, not a priority yet.

On the third week, I went down to a grass secondary town off-road because another Griffin Conservatory was visible there. I couldn't figure out how to approach it — I thought the terrain was mocking me today and there was another long detour. So I passed it and went down, and below, after two days of travel, there was another Griffin Conservatory. It turned out to be a double, I took it. And then it became clear that there was no detour to that upper Griffin Conservatory — it was guarded by basilisks that weren't visible because of the mountain. In the end, Ivor crashed into the castle, troops were passed back, and on the way Dragon took that Griffin Conservatory too, which was also a triple. Then Jenova stood at that strong Griffin Conservatory that was behind the golems, troops were brought there, it turned out to be a maximum, and it was taken on day 136. Total: 12 angels, 6 dragons. Ivor started breaking through along the road — there was a portal to the opponent's secondary town, and right next to it was a Griffin Conservatory already taken by the opponent on my territory. Ivor ran underground. The map turned out to be bugged — one of the roads passed through the treasure zone.

Fourth week. In that treasure zone, I took money buildings and a Pandora's Box with earth magic (too bad Wisdom was only basic), ignored everything else. I passed to my secondary town — there was a shield +6 and a crown +4. Well, at least something. I captured the conflux, took scouting views, and saw two more Griffin Conservatories! I farmed them — total I had 10 dragons, 16 angels plus small units of elves and dwarves. Meanwhile, Shakti broke through the Griffin Conservatory and reached Jenova (it was a shame — she was a very useful scout, and she also had the Legs of the Legion). I gathered money, Rylond scammed at the external market, bought all the troops, and Ignatus ran down to a one-turn distance. On day 145, Shakti took my castle and reached the evacuated creatures with a lich. More sadness... Then there was a difficult choice of what to do. Barely any magic, few artifacts, castle far away. I decided to rush into the treasure zone.

The second month turned out to be, to my luck, the month of plague. Ivor entered the treasure zone, which turned out to be already cleared. He passed through it and emerged at the opponent's secondary town, and right there was an entrance to another treasure zone. This one was more fun: a sword +5 to all stats, a thunder helm, and a ring +1 to speed. Shakti had already explored the treasure zone I had passed through, collecting everything I hadn't taken. Ivor emerged at the opponent's Barbarian secondary town (not taken by the opponent, by the way) and started moving toward where the treasure zone should be. And then — oh joy — a Dragon Utopia! However, on the same day, day 215, Shakti snatched that Utopia right from under my nose (the only one on the map), and I was left without the last castle. The remaining fourth treasure zone turned out to be completely idiotic.

After that, there's nothing much to write. Shakti has Town Portal, Dimension Door, and Fly; Ivor has nothing of the sort. I retook my castle, left elves and dwarves there, and lost them. I never thought Shakti could reach the castle from somewhere. Over the next two weeks, he ate up the map, visited all sorts of stat boosters, took money, built up, and accumulated growth. With nothing better to do, I rode to another Griffin Conservatory in the very corner that the opponent didn't know about. It turned out to be a triple. In the final battle, there was no chance, of course — the opponent outran me.
And even if I had sat in the Rampart, the opponent would have beaten me economically, because I simply wouldn't have had anything to buy growth with, upgrading the guild would have been difficult, and I wouldn't have been able to upgrade the dragons (Shakti could easily have snatched any money object from under my nose). Having amassed enough power to finish me off, the opponent agreed to a final battle, though first having arranged a draw with me. But considering the two auto-wins, I think it's fairer to give him the victory.

Thanks for the game.
p.s. The lich battles were truly epic :D