Reports of online games and their confirmations (Spring 2012 season).

28.03.12 d0mino (Blue, Castle, Valeska, Valeska) def Vitalyi_B (Red, Necropolis, Clavius, Tant)

On day 111, scouting showed one road into the dungeon, another into the GO, and a lack of valuable resources near the roads. I was saddened at first, but saw 2 Gr. Conservatories, decided to delay the restart, and on day 112 saw another 2 Gr. Conservatories, an external dwelling of horses, a stables, and a hive. I decided to play. In the first week, I took 2 crypts and placed horses in the citadel without griffins. On day 121, being an idiot, I upgraded the horse building (Ristalia in the Russian version?), even though the stables was a day's travel away by rough terrain. During the second week, traveling across rough terrain, I collected a Dwarf Cottage and 4 Gr. Conservatories, all of which turned out to be minimums; I captured the external horse dwelling. Over all 3 weeks, no better hero than Valeska appeared, and she didn't get Earth or Tactics (Expert Leadership, Armorer, Archery, and Advanced Attack). On day 131, I'm still playing with one castle and without Slow, and the tavern stubbornly shows my opponent's main as Galtran (scary). On the same turn, being a noob, in a level-3 Conservatory I lose one horse. Day 132 I choose to kill the GO (7 angels + 13 horses vs. 10-19 Gold Dragons, seemed decent, but no Tactics or even the Slow spell), I decided to go into the underground, hoping to see a Treasury or a secondary hero, but because of the damned Mercury, hopes of getting angels even by the end of the month are fading. On day 133, I kill a minimal (? 4 wyverns) hive and finally get at least Basic Tactics; I go down into the dungeon. On day 134, in the dungeon I see a Dragon Utopia and 2 Pandora's Boxes. I kill the Nagas guarding the Pandora's Boxes and get a choice of Advanced Tactics or Basic Air Magic; I take Air since a secondary hero had a Haste scroll and a Mage Guild level 1 was built. In the Pandora's Boxes: 5k and 10k experience (Expert Air Magic and on day 135 I broke the guard (120 mummies), and looked at the Dragon Utopia... 20-49 Creatures... I chickened out, decided to first take the 2 nearby hives, and maybe even wait for the next week, bring the weekly growth, and scout what's actually in the Dragon Utopia. On day 136, I humiliate a level-2 Imp dwelling (4 Mercury, ONLY 6 MERCURY TOTAL...), and a hive with 8 wyverns; turns are few, looks like on day 137 I'll have to choose: either the second hive, or the Dragon Utopia. On day 137, I pick the hive anyway... never taken high-level Dragon Utopias in a real game, and relying on autosave is shameful... more deliberation, take the Dragon Utopia immediately or go to 1 more hive a day's travel from it (only 20 wyverns so far)... On day 141, I took another small hive and suddenly discovered that you can't use scrolls without a spell book, but I have no towns left, I have to take the Dragon Utopia. On day 142 I TOOK it (level 3), lost 1 angel, 1 horse, 17 griffins, 11 archers, and 1 swordsman (got Basic Wisdom, Helm +6 to all stats, Sword +5 to all stats, a Water Magic Spell Book (sadness), and a Cloak for +1 Crystal). While I was celebrating, I saw my opponent running at me with 10-19 angels, knights, liches, 25 vampires, zombies, and 500 skeletons. By hook or by crook, using a broken chain with a secondary hero buyout, I managed to get the army to the town, beat Valeska, and started waiting... I waited, the opponent decided to attack the castle, but the Dragon Utopia (+11 to all stats and, finally, a proper spell book) was taken RIGHT ON TIME :D. Victory.

Many thanks for the game. Actually, it's useful for beginners to watch, and personally, I (probably the biggest beginner of them all here) learned a lot from it, such as:
1) You should choose a layout not by resources and blocks, but by roads and Gr. Conservatories/hives
2) Armorer and Defense, as skills, are a must-have
3) Wisdom doesn't matter that much (it stayed Basic)
4) You need to look into the Mage Guild and buy the spell book for 500 to at least read scrolls
5) After the second week, be sure to have a chain back to the castle
6) Artifacts that give +stats decide the game
7) Any spell book is a profit
8) Winning with native troops alone is hardly possible
6) Artifacts that give +stats decide the game
7) Any spell book is a profit
8) Winning with native troops alone is hardly possible