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Mike vs Tinkeerr GM2 on Balance.
First, I want to clarify that I watched the game to analyze the player's style and actions for similarities to a game you know. And please, no shouting that I'm defending anyone.
To start, I checked the skill tree level-up variations.
What do we have for Tsar Gnoll by the end of the game:
1 Armor
2 Leadership
3 Air
4 Earth
5 Pathfinding
6 Artillery
7 Tactics
I went through the development options. Several dead-end branches — for example, after taking Air, they offered Water, or a choice between two useless skills. But there was also one interesting branch through Pathfinding at level 2. That would later include Logistics, Offense, and Tactics, but Air would take a while to master, and Earth is offered only in the last slot, by which point a game on Balance is usually over.
Let's return to how the hero was leveled up.
1st level-up — choice between Pathfinding and Armor, we skip Pathfinding.
2nd — Armor / Scouting, naturally Armor.
4th — Leadership / Air, takes Air. Now here's a slight inconsistency with the playing style against Homunculus. There, he refused Air in a situation where Air would be more beneficial, but here, playing as Castle, he takes it. If Air is not taken, then at level 8 Water comes in.
5th — Leadership / Navigation
6th — Expert Leadership
7th and 8th — Expert Air — no other options.
9th — Earth / Sorcery, obviously Earth
10th — Advanced Earth / Tactics — we don't take Tactics. A debatable decision — in a game against Mephala and a faster ramp-up, protecting your shooters and potentially blocking the opponent's elves is clearly a beneficial move. But Mephala doesn't have Tactics and won't get it :) However, there might be an excuse — he wanted to master Earth. That's logical too.
11th — Earth / Pathfinding — takes Pathfinding, as Gnoll heads into the treasure zone on the rocks
12th — Pathfinding
13th — Pathfinding
14th — Advanced Earth
15th — Navigation / Artillery
16th — Artillery / Tactics — and there's Tactics, he takes it. That's also a bit strange — he didn't take Tactics in favor of Earth earlier, now he takes it without finishing Earth. But okay, there's a treasure zone in sight, the opponent hasn't moved to the center yet — overall, there's logic in the move.
And now, directly to the game itself.
Week 1 was played in a way that made me think — yeah, everything's fine.
There were some obvious reconnaissance blunders here and there, like Val not checking a couple of tiles she could have, where a 1000-gold chest would have been. Papashka didn't break through the fairies, even though the view beyond them would have been visible. And by the way, in that direction he immediately figured out where the ГЮ was and didn't send a scout to see the simple Genies there.
On day 1, with 30 archers, he didn't risk hitting 20 Pit Fiends on the lava for a +4 sword. The teleport right on the road at his home respawn fits the same context. Guarded by 20 Blue Elementals, he was probably afraid. In short, he played very cautiously.
But then it gets more interesting:
The most logical thing would have been to start the new week from home, boost speed at the stables, and hit the elementals to get to the secondary town. It's half a day from the castle to them. But the Chinese player runs straight off-road towards the edge of a revealed Necropolis town. It's not a short path, guarded by 20+ Mages. The Dragon sits in this castle only on day 122. Leaving 200 movement points in reserve.
Let's uncover the map:
The teleport near the castle actually ended up on the road by chance, and the real veterans know that such teleports have no road at the exit.
This trick could be justified, for example, as: the Chinese are well-versed in Balance and the guy somehow figured out that the Necro village he headed to is exactly the one that has a direct exit to the sands.
There, he immediately finds another castle, an exit to the adjacent zone, and a teleport. The Dragon acts like he owns the place. On day 122, I also found a strange move — removing the +4 stick when he was holed up in the Necro village. The opponent could have easily popped out of the fog. But the timeframe is short, so a bit of gear-swapping fun is possible. However, on day 123, Gnoll is already camping in the field, at a crossroads of 5 directions. From three directions, the opponent won't appear, but from the direction of the ГО (Hydra Conservatory) and from the direction of the secondary town in the fog, there's a possibility. But the veterans know that the opponent is busy farming their home Conservatories at this time, so he can safely stash the sword in his backpack and give the scout a full two horses to retake the town. Here I wondered, if he's so fearless, why not boost speed on the horses and send the scout with an army into the village?? Because... If he does that, the scout won't reach the main hero and will lose movement points.
And then comes a moment that is the hardest to explain.
He's at the crossroads. One road clearly leads to his own ГО, a second to the teleport to the opponent's ГО, and a third to a snowy secondary town. He chooses the first option — the road indeed leads to his own ГО, near which a piece of a gold mine is visible. And then the Swamp King takes a step off the road into the desert, and — oh, wonder — if you look closely, you can make out the edge of some Boots. The Boots are, of course, taken.
One could assume he was looking for an exit to the treasure zone, but the very next move shatters this theory completely. Now he runs to the snowy secondary town, which is the most logical place to go from the start, and he doesn't bother with any treasure zone searching off-road at all!!
That's it, I didn't watch further, but it seems to me it's not that interesting anymore. Just fattening up on the treasure zone and war with Mephala. Maybe Mike remembers something interesting.
Having watched the 3rd game already, I can confidently state: this hero of Heroes chose the ideal trajectory for the main hero in every game. Not a single mistake in choosing the direction!
First, I want to clarify that I watched the game to analyze the player's style and actions for similarities to a game you know. And please, no shouting that I'm defending anyone.
To start, I checked the skill tree level-up variations.
What do we have for Tsar Gnoll by the end of the game:
1 Armor
2 Leadership
3 Air
4 Earth
5 Pathfinding
6 Artillery
7 Tactics
I went through the development options. Several dead-end branches — for example, after taking Air, they offered Water, or a choice between two useless skills. But there was also one interesting branch through Pathfinding at level 2. That would later include Logistics, Offense, and Tactics, but Air would take a while to master, and Earth is offered only in the last slot, by which point a game on Balance is usually over.
Let's return to how the hero was leveled up.
1st level-up — choice between Pathfinding and Armor, we skip Pathfinding.
2nd — Armor / Scouting, naturally Armor.
4th — Leadership / Air, takes Air. Now here's a slight inconsistency with the playing style against Homunculus. There, he refused Air in a situation where Air would be more beneficial, but here, playing as Castle, he takes it. If Air is not taken, then at level 8 Water comes in.
5th — Leadership / Navigation
6th — Expert Leadership
7th and 8th — Expert Air — no other options.
9th — Earth / Sorcery, obviously Earth
10th — Advanced Earth / Tactics — we don't take Tactics. A debatable decision — in a game against Mephala and a faster ramp-up, protecting your shooters and potentially blocking the opponent's elves is clearly a beneficial move. But Mephala doesn't have Tactics and won't get it :) However, there might be an excuse — he wanted to master Earth. That's logical too.
11th — Earth / Pathfinding — takes Pathfinding, as Gnoll heads into the treasure zone on the rocks
12th — Pathfinding
13th — Pathfinding
14th — Advanced Earth
15th — Navigation / Artillery
16th — Artillery / Tactics — and there's Tactics, he takes it. That's also a bit strange — he didn't take Tactics in favor of Earth earlier, now he takes it without finishing Earth. But okay, there's a treasure zone in sight, the opponent hasn't moved to the center yet — overall, there's logic in the move.
And now, directly to the game itself.
Week 1 was played in a way that made me think — yeah, everything's fine.
There were some obvious reconnaissance blunders here and there, like Val not checking a couple of tiles she could have, where a 1000-gold chest would have been. Papashka didn't break through the fairies, even though the view beyond them would have been visible. And by the way, in that direction he immediately figured out where the ГЮ was and didn't send a scout to see the simple Genies there.
On day 1, with 30 archers, he didn't risk hitting 20 Pit Fiends on the lava for a +4 sword. The teleport right on the road at his home respawn fits the same context. Guarded by 20 Blue Elementals, he was probably afraid. In short, he played very cautiously.
But then it gets more interesting:
The most logical thing would have been to start the new week from home, boost speed at the stables, and hit the elementals to get to the secondary town. It's half a day from the castle to them. But the Chinese player runs straight off-road towards the edge of a revealed Necropolis town. It's not a short path, guarded by 20+ Mages. The Dragon sits in this castle only on day 122. Leaving 200 movement points in reserve.
Let's uncover the map:
The teleport near the castle actually ended up on the road by chance, and the real veterans know that such teleports have no road at the exit.
This trick could be justified, for example, as: the Chinese are well-versed in Balance and the guy somehow figured out that the Necro village he headed to is exactly the one that has a direct exit to the sands.
There, he immediately finds another castle, an exit to the adjacent zone, and a teleport. The Dragon acts like he owns the place. On day 122, I also found a strange move — removing the +4 stick when he was holed up in the Necro village. The opponent could have easily popped out of the fog. But the timeframe is short, so a bit of gear-swapping fun is possible. However, on day 123, Gnoll is already camping in the field, at a crossroads of 5 directions. From three directions, the opponent won't appear, but from the direction of the ГО (Hydra Conservatory) and from the direction of the secondary town in the fog, there's a possibility. But the veterans know that the opponent is busy farming their home Conservatories at this time, so he can safely stash the sword in his backpack and give the scout a full two horses to retake the town. Here I wondered, if he's so fearless, why not boost speed on the horses and send the scout with an army into the village?? Because... If he does that, the scout won't reach the main hero and will lose movement points.
And then comes a moment that is the hardest to explain.
He's at the crossroads. One road clearly leads to his own ГО, a second to the teleport to the opponent's ГО, and a third to a snowy secondary town. He chooses the first option — the road indeed leads to his own ГО, near which a piece of a gold mine is visible. And then the Swamp King takes a step off the road into the desert, and — oh, wonder — if you look closely, you can make out the edge of some Boots. The Boots are, of course, taken.
One could assume he was looking for an exit to the treasure zone, but the very next move shatters this theory completely. Now he runs to the snowy secondary town, which is the most logical place to go from the start, and he doesn't bother with any treasure zone searching off-road at all!!
That's it, I didn't watch further, but it seems to me it's not that interesting anymore. Just fattening up on the treasure zone and war with Mephala. Maybe Mike remembers something interesting.
Having watched the 3rd game already, I can confidently state: this hero of Heroes chose the ideal trajectory for the main hero in every game. Not a single mistake in choosing the direction!
Даже если вас съели - у вас два выхода:smile19:
Зима 2011-12.
Зима 2011-12.