"only XL"

Group SoD-A
23.01.2013

wowa (blue, Dungeon, Shakti) lose Amiloo (red, Fortress, Tazar) 8MM6a@223, average roads

I spawned underground (actually never once on the surface during all generations)
on day 1, a Griffin Conservatory under the castle, some looters picked up a Bless scroll
a plan ripens: not to upgrade Troglodytes on day 111, but to buy a spell book for the Miner, and on day 112 to take the second-level creature dwelling inclusive
but a bust – the looter picks an artifact in the treasure chest instead of gold, and with the gold that was grubbed up, there's not enough for a hero to both deliver the Troglodytes for the upgrade and have someone to scout with
so the Miner jumps in himself, but having seen just a Trog, decides that the odds of losing the game straight away here are more than half (had attempted to take the second-level dwelling on day 112 earlier, but 5 (five!!!) morale procs on Griffins left only a day of restarts)
so we run along the path to the left, clear 49 Magma Elementals for a completely useless Library, the road loops back over the castle in a 2-and-a-half-day long loop
I decide to cut it short and send Shakti into the elevator off-road
beyond the elevator, there really is a road leading into the territory of our Necro opponent, but scouting revealed that the mountain ridge in front of it stretched for a whole 2 screens!
the looter running behind brings the funds to Torosar, who tries to crawl out of the spawn, casts Teleport, but behind it there's double guard of Medusas and Energy Elementals
a choice presents itself: drag Shakti there, or return to the Cons, but since I won't make it to the Necro by day 121, I decide to start the week with the Cons, having the Miner stay the night there on day 117
no money, no caches either, except for 3 Troglodyte ones, which I ran into on the last day of the week
at home, only Medusas in the Fort and upgraded tier 1-2
deep in the spawn, the looters scouted another Cons, a tier 2 dwelling with a Capricorn, the Miner started from it, making it there by day 121, then the one under the castle (also a tier 2, would've been nice to know earlier))) then another long road loop, we only reach the Necro on day 131, although with the loot, Shakti was running on Angels alone, while the rest of the troops scouted the intermediate treasure zone underground
there we found 2 more Cons and a Dragon Utopia, which I take on day 134
further, I clear all the teleporters, determine via surface scouting where the second Necro is, and run towards him
and then the red player crashes into the center
I don't go head-on, I bail to the first computer again, then a battle of looters for the central town, into which I dump all the money and troops from the Necro, and as a result, the bot takes back the Necro castle itself, though it was already cut off anyway after recapturing the town
for the rest of the game, I looked for control
I fought back thanks to a Ring of +1 Speed, an Armageddon scroll, and a Fire Booster from the red looter-mage who was running at me on a Sultan
but the red player in the recaptured town shows a hefty amount of Phoenixes, Energy Elementals, and other scum, so even building and upgrading Dragons wouldn't have solved it; I poured resources into Towers, while Taz, meanwhile, was fattening up, already having Dimension Door
then Shakti was cornered near the Barbarian, I fed the opponent the army of weeks 1-3, then kept running all the way until week 6, looking for any hint of control, but the Towers only had Summoning, and all the Pandora's Boxes had Water magic, too bad it wasn't WT :)
neither of us had Town Portal
but in the end, the Miner, after running around the computers, was caught with a weak growth from the Tavern castle by Taz with a full army; the army was left at the other end of the map, unable to unite
GG, thanks to the opponent for the game))