Terra dei Demoni

14.11.2013 The_ (blue, Conflux, random, Monere, Tanth) def u2noob (red, Conflux, random, Luna, Luna) Terra Dei Demoni 142.

We completely trashed our resets, including a tech re that was very frustrating. There was Luna, two Griffin Conservatories, two Dragon Fly Hives (but the blessed passage from my secondary into his Inferno, the gold mine was blocked). I suggested my opponent play this situation like a Jebus Cross, i.e., ignore the passage and run around our own territory. To my surprise, I heard a refusal, even though I never revealed Luna, and my opponent had Galthran.
After that, I had to burn my two restarts myself, because it kept giving double GO in the portal.

After all the manipulations, it ended up with me getting Monere, while my opponent was given Luna from the start.
My mood, to put it mildly, plummeted. The only thing that cheered me up was Tanth arriving, who quickly got Wisdom and Earth magic, which is exactly what I needed. In this game, I deliberately took the blue color for the sake of the Tower (Mage Guild level 5) and the Dungeon with the vortex.
Disgusting respawn, no stables, stone under blocks, 2/3 of the respawn under blocks that aren't worth hitting at all (waste of time). I immediately ran into Inferno, then also captured the Tower on day 114 and started building the Citadel up. With God's help, I got birds in the Citadel—there's no other way to put it—on day 117 I had 1500 gold and zero chance of scrounging up money anywhere. In the end, Tanth was clearing resource piles off-road and such, while the scout hero was trading at the market. My heart literally bled swapping draconic resources (the Mage Guild was only level 3 at that point). On day 121, I pick up a box with 5k gold on Caslova's secondary; there I also manage to scrounge up a decent amount of gold. After capturing the Castle, I clear the Black Market—there are boots +15% Necromancy, again pain and suffering, exchanging draconic resources for cash (Mage Guild still level 3). Around day 123-124, I finally reached the Dungeon, hauled out 200 skeletons with the boots from that respawn; before that, I only had 200 total.

*Lyrical digression: GO again through the damn portal, and on top of that, Cyclops Kings and only the Devil knows what's on the other side. Now about the content: my opponent has 4 Griffin Conservatories, I have 1 (for 1 Angel). For 5 locations—0 Beserker dens, 0 Dwarf Cottages (there was one Dwarf Cottage on the snow in the very corner). Either it didn't proc, or Vick smoked something wrong)), but how are you supposed to kill GO without magic that might not even come online in time? It's not very clear (slaying demons in this game definitely lacked gold). Although in this game I was lucky that my opponent wasn't rushing me and gave me room to expand.*

I finish building Mage Guild level 5 + Library; they gave Earthquake and Implosion. At level 4—Chain Lightning, Meteor Shower, Fire Shield. I get double mana in Dungeon. Stats aren't great—level 13, though the skill growth is excellent: Wisdom, Earth, Logistics, Offense, Air, Tactics. I clear two Naga Banks; in one of them, I leave 3 birds and 7 Psychos—well, that's fine, acceptable losses.
On day 134, I break the Cyclopes; auto-battle wipes me to zero, killing only 5 Cyclopes! With great difficulty, I kill them with Implosion + skeleton stack. On the other side, Hydras of Chaos; a stack of 550 skeletons kills only 3 Hydras on max damage... again, I only clear this fight thanks to magic. In the treasure zone, I manage to get the Golden Bow, two Dragon Fly Hives (for 20 Wyverns), two boxes totaling 160 Devils (that's just trolling if you ask me), and I leave a good chunk below the portal: an Imp cottage, a ring +1 HP, a box behind a stack of Psychos, two Hives—Luna definitely won't reach that. The red player has already eaten the rest of the center a couple of turns ago.
On red's turn, they showed no activity, even though their army was visibly stronger there, with better stats—seems like they were waiting for more growth. On day 141, I break myself the hell out of this zone for mana in the Dungeon—250+ mana—and return to the portal with growth and such, leaving a couple of scout heroes in the portal with Implosion (I specifically leveled Wisdom on them).
On day 142, Luna attacks a scout hero. I throw Implosion, but very unluckily—I overlooked the +3 HP, and Implosion deals 400, so only one Angel dies. Luna's army: 9 birds, 8 Angels, 55+ Monks. Stats: 7-4-16-140+, something like that. My army: 550 skeletons, 20 ducks, 1 Angel, 8 birds, 36 Firebirds, 12 Wyverns, 44 Ice Elementals. Stats: 9-6-12-250+. Luna attacks Tanth nearby; thanks to Oil and Implosion, I win relatively easily—the level 5 Mage Guild gave me Sacrifice.
Thanks for the game!

Suggestion to Vick: could it be made so that GO only appears on one side of the portal, something like: if portal, then GO on one side. Because the portal only appears here in GO anyway, and considering the impoverished content, breaking 45000 GO vs 90000 makes a HUGE difference.